A second draft of the Expression of
Interest for Market Licences will soon
be up for public comment – alongside
the current one – after Byron Shire
councillors passed a motion by Crs
Simon Richardson and Tom Tabart
at its Thursday meeting.
The new draft, unlike the previous
one, will weigh criteria for the tender
process in favour of localism and will
be less reliant on monetary gains.
Crs Ross Tucker and Diane Woods
voted against, while both Crs Tony
Heeson and Basil Cameron were absent from the chamber when the vote
was taken.
The decision comes after a packedout Byron Community Centre public meeting on Monday December
5, which unanimously rejected the

current draft. The unanimous resolution of Monday’s meeting reads: ‘We
call on Council to reject draft policy
as it stands and to convene a working group of stakeholders (including
market managers, stallholders group
and Council) to explore assessment
criteria, a cost benefit analysis, a local
procurement policy and alternative
legal and Crown Lands advice.’
ABCs 4 Corners anchor Kerry
O’Brien ably held together Monday’s
meeting, which included panelists
mayor Jan Barham, deputy mayor Cr
Basil Cameron, CEO of Byron Community Centre – which runs the current Byron markets – Paul Spooner and
Farmers Market (stallholder) Association representative Anthony Hotson.
Cr Cameron said he had spent 18
months crafting the original policy
with full community consultation,

only to have it knocked back by the
state government due to some of the
markets being held on Crown land.
Both Cr Cameron and mayor Barham said there was a very real possibility that if Council failed to put the
markets out to tender its control of
the Crown land would be taken away
by the state. They used the example of
the state resumption of council-run
caravan parks to make their point.
From the floor, Cr Richardson condemned the council voting process,
saying it was ‘not good leadership to
put a poor document on public exhibition and then watch the community
turn cartwheels trying to redraft it’.
A working group of market managers, stallholders group and Council
is scheduled to meet by the end of
February.
QLetters page 16, editorial page 12

Perrow claims Pipeline victory
Eve Jeffery

Byron Bay’s Kieren Perrow has made a
lot of his family’s and friends’ dreams
come true – not the least his own –
when he conquered Banzai Pipeline
in Oahu, Hawaii, on the weekend.
He took out the 30th crown in the
world-renowned Pipeline Masters,
joining a list of esteemed Aussie surfers who have held the title, including Mark Richards, Simon Anderson,
Mark Occhilupo and Tom Carroll
and, more recently, Bede Durbidge
and Taj Burrow.
Perrow rose from the ashes of a
devastating eleventh-hour loss last
year to Frenchman Jeremy Flores to
win this year’s event over compatriot
Joel Parkinson.
The Echo spoke to Kieren’s mum
Susan Perrow, who was ecstatic with
her son’s win.
‘He had a lot of interviews yesterday but we managed to speak for a
few minutes on Skype’, she said.
‘We have watched for 16 years as he
came fourth or second or third and to
not get it last year in the last minute
was terrible.

‘When the hooter went on the
weekend and he had won, I actually
started sobbing. He is so deserving.’
Susan says that even as a child she
knew what an important event the
Pipeline Masters was.
‘It’s iconic. Everyone knows about it.
You never imagine you son could win
it. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep last
night, but it was so delicious to just lie

awake and bathe in the joy of it’.
Perrow’s win, which was celebrated
in Hawaii with his brother Simon and
his wife Danielle and their two children, will carry him onto next year’s
ASP World Tour.
Before that, he will come home and Pictured from left, Ocean Shores Public School’s Courtney, Lachlan, Jemma,
spend Christmas with his family.
Ellie Edan and Ruby (sitting), were among the 58 students who were placed
‘I can tell you that will be one very third in the national Wakakirri competition.
big celebration’, says Susan.
trusted her inhabitants with her care
Photo & story Eve Jeffery
but the result of pollution, rubbish
Ocean Shores Public School has won and construction might make her anthird place in a national story-dance gry to the point of retaliation.
One of the criteria for the entry is
competition with their DVD entry
that students use as many reusuable
entitled Mother Earth.
Fifty-eight students from years and recyclable items as possible, and
three to six were part of the produc- as costumes and props were sourced
tion that was entered into Wakakirri, from the school community, the actual
a story-sharing arts festival that chal- cost of the production was very little.
The school came first at the state
lenges schools to make a positive imlevel a few months ago and was repact on the world.
Established in 1992, Wakakirri cently told of their third place at the
is Australia’s largest arts festival for national level.
‘The production of Mother Earth
schools involving more than 30,000
was not about making an elaborate
students across the country.
The Ocean Shores piece focused on story,’ says assistant principal Melinda
looking after the planet, in particular Lengyel. ‘We wanted to raise awarethe oceans and beaches. It conveyed ness about how and why we need to
A proud moment for the Perrow family. Photo courtesy Shea Lopez
the idea that Mother Earth had en- look after the Earth.’

enrich your spirit
perhaps the most tranquil tourist attraction
on the East Coast and a wonderful place
to spend a couple of mellow hours…
Brisbane News, December 2010.
www.crystalcastle.com.au
Open 7 Days 10am-5pm (NSW time)
81 Monet Drive, Mullumbimby
40 mins from Tweed Heads
20 mins from Byron Bay
(02) 6684 3111

The alleged ‘schoolie slumlord’
has hit back at both Council
and media over his recent
Council compliance bust.
The raid on his leased property on Bangalow Road last
week allegedly found 19 people
in the house, including eight
schoolies. Council staff told the
media the accommodation was
unsafe and unsanitary.
Shai Major, former editor
and owner of the now defunct
Byron Times Magazine, is critical of media reports, including
in The Echo, for publishing the
property address. He claims that
since it went to press, negative
comments by locals towards
tenants of the property have
been both unfair and stressful.
Mr Major told The Echo,
‘With the great difficulties that
local young 20-something years
old people are faced when trying to find a place to call home
in Byron Bay, it is really sad
that the local Council, under
the pretense of caring for their
“safety”, is making it so hard for

Brisbane to board a flight, due
to work commitments I had
scheduled months in advance,
and so I got a solicitor to plead
for me.
‘I did meet the Council ranger coming to my property (that
is at Jonson St and not Bangalow Rd) while I was entering
my car to drive to Brisbane, at
exactly 11am.
‘If I was to stay, I might have
Intimidation
lost my flight and this is the
‘The tactics of intimidation, only reason I sent someone
misinformation, propaganda else on my behalf.’
and blunt lies that our local
council is employing resemble Property ‘clean’
the manners employed by comClaims by council staff that
munist Russia more than our the property was found unhyso-called democratic Australia. gienic are strenuously denied.
‘I was extremely surprised
‘Our house is not a slum,’ he
that the media, including says. ‘It is a normal house and
your newspaper, published quite clean. I understand that
such comments as “an illegal the Council sent private photos
backpackers hostel” etc. I am of our home – and the people
still under the impression that in it – to all the newspapers. I
until a court will prove a man was relieved at least that The
guilty he is to be considered Echo was the only paper not to
innocent.’
print such private photos.
Mr Major also defended
‘Regardless of the pending
claims he avoided his court court case, the property I am
appearance. ‘I had to be in leasing is currently enjoying
them to enjoy their life in peace.
‘Hospitality, to remind all
concerned, is not only the
name of an “industry”. It is also
the name of a way of life.
‘I shall continue to offer
my hospitality, with pride,
to those I can help, and will
fight any attempts of the local council to portray it as an
“evil” or “unsafe” act.’

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Photo & story Eve Jeffery

The love of her red Valiant
Charger has prompted Ang
McDermott to help women
become more independent in
their car care and she is about

to launch a course ‘Under
Your Bonnet – Car Basics For
Women.’
‘I came up with the idea because I know that being able to
do the basics with my car has
saved me money and time not

The Anglican Parish of
Mullumbimby
Special Christmas Times

having to rely on other people
– she is an old girl and needs
extra special love,’ says Ang.
‘Over the years girlfriends
have been stuck with flat
tyres, overheating engines
and a myriad of other minor
problems that have left them
stranded.
‘I hope the women doing
the course will leave with more
knowledge about their car. I
hope they feel empowered
with a sense of achievement at
changing a tyre on their own.’
During the two and a half
hour course, ladies can expect to
to learn not only how to change
a flat but also add coolant to the
radiator; check the battery is
clean and healthy; learn how to
jump start a car; check tyre pres-

‘The workshop has a limit
of six women, so it will be a
really personal experience,’
says Ang. ‘A lot of women are
too shy to ask about how to
maintain their cars and they
wait for things to break down
or they just get their partners
to do it, but mostly women
haven’t been shown and they
are so hungry for this practical
knowledge.’
For more information about
the course, you can contact
Ang on 0414 719 680 or email
amcdermott2481@gmail.com.

Back issues of our print papers
presented in a slick digital viewer.
issuu.com/echopublications

the presence of seven longterm, friendly, pleasant, locally
working tenants. I am leasing
the (four bedrooms plus a studio/garage) property under a
contract that allows me to accommodate up to eight people.
‘The tenants who live there
only pay their fair share of the
rent that I am, as the leaseholder, charged by the owner.
‘Each person pays $100 per
week for their share of the rent,
plus each person pays $15 p/w
to cover their share of the bills,
and an extra $10 to share/buy
everything the household requires.
‘Therefore, there is no commercial activity taking place at
that property.’
Mr Major is yet to enter a
plea for ‘Carry out development without consent.’
Magistrate Michael Dakin
specified that a plea must be
entered at the next court date,
March 22, 2012.
The property in question is
advertised for $588 at www.
schoolies.biz/listing-stay.
php?id=1541.

And of course you can find our
stories, back issues and more on
the Byron Echo’s site.
echo.net.au

Byron Shire Council has commenced proceedings against
Alan Hunter, former candidate
for Richmond, and current
National Party chairman of the
Richmond electorate.
Mr Hunter is charged with
illegal construction at his property on Pinegrove Rd, Myocum.
Council alleges that Mr
Hunter illegally conducted
earthworks in excess of those
permitted by his approval for a
farm shed.
Lilly Pilly Preschool students Sasha, Jakob, Pearl and Ivy get
According to Ralph James,
into the spirit of Christmas. Photo Eve Jeffery
head of compliance at BSC, the
The children and parents from
The market will be held this allegations include placing 18
Lilly Pilly Preschool have been Wednesday in Banner park in
busy, busy bees creating gifts for Brunswick Heads from 3pm.
their annual fundraiser at the
The Ocean Shores Public
Brunswick twilight markets.
School choir will sing at 6pm A tentative date of February
Families, friends and lo- and 7pm and the fellow in the 3 or 4, 2012, has been touted
cal artists have been donat- red suit will appear at around as the official opening of the
Byron Regional Sport and Culing treasures and making and 6.30pm.
creating children’s crafts out of
The traditional lighting of the tural Complex (BRSCC) on
natural and recycled materials tree will be at 8pm followed by Ewingsdale Road.
Council voted on the date as
to sell. Nothing will be over $20. the fireworks at 9pm.

shipping containers on the site,
joined together to form a storage facility.
Mr Hunter appeared in the
Byron Local Court on Wednesday to enter a plea of not guilty.
The matter is scheduled for a
full day hearing on February
10, 2012.
In the 2010 election, Mr
Hunter secured 19 per cent of
the primary vote and 43 per
cent of the two-candidate preferred vote for the Nationals.
This represented a swing of
1.88 per cent towards the coalition, a middling result given a
national swing of 5.4 per cent
against Labor.

Ewingsdale complex opens soon
a matter of extreme urgency at
last Thurday’s meeting.
Approval for the date will
also be sought from the state
government’s Department of
Infrastructure, who helped to
finance the project.

Splendour’s Yelgun site edges closer
described the recommendation with regard to the possible
maximum number of people at
the site.
He told The Echo, ‘It is well
in excess of what Council approved at the Tyagarah site for
the Bluesfest, and well in excess of what Splendour originally put in the application to
Council which was for 22,500
patrons per day.’
He said Council originally
approved a one-year trial event
at the Splendour site to gauge
the impact of 15,000 day patrons and 5,240 campers.
‘This was done to gauge the
traffic, noise and ecological impacts. An appeal from the Environmental Defenders Office
to the Land and Environment
Court overturned that Council trial approval. Council will
make a submission regarding
the impact of such large numbers, and hopefully will be able
to make a case to reduce the
number to something similar
to the original approval granted by Council.

Hans Lovejoy

Splendour In The Grass organisers have passed the first hurdle
to operate from the North Byron Parklands in Yelgun; however, concerns have again been
expressed from neighbours and
Council after a recommendation to eventually accommodate up to 50,000 patrons.
The announcement by the
NSW Department of Planning
and Infrastructure this week
says it advocates increasing the
size of events ‘of no more than
5,000 patrons per event, per
calendar year [that] will ensure
that any intensification of site
usage is gradual, with sufficient
time for monitoring and reporting of any residual impacts…’
The application has now been
handed to the NSW Planning
and Assessment Commission
who will make the final decision regarding whether or not
the application will be approved.
‘Excessive,’ is how Byron
Shire Council’s executive manager of planning, Ray Darney,

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‘If the numbers that are now
proposed are achieved, the impact on the area will be much
greater than the original trial
approval granted by Council.’

Outright assault
The Coalition For Festival
Sanity’s Mac Nicolson told The
Echo the proposed approval of
four large festivals a year ‘is an
outright assault on our community and its social cohesion.’
‘I love festivals, but I love
those such as Mullum and Bellingen that hold them inclusive
of the local community, within
the town area and immediate
surrounds, with community
needs taken into the utmost
consideration. What the Department of Planning have
demonstrated by their recommendation is that they have a
clear bias in favour of the myth
of jobs over the integrity of ecosystems and community.’
Mr Nicolson was also scathing over the environmental
proposals to offset the development.

‘The trees they are going to
plant along the wildlife corridor is just greenwash, nothing
more. I personally have planted
over 20,000 trees in this area
while restoring riparian areas
on farms, all out of my own
pocket. Watching these people
gain large government grants
to plant trees and then seeing them dying and neglected
makes you very cynical about
their true motives.’

Great news
Splendour’s Jessica Ducrou
said in a statement, ‘It’s great
news regarding the recommendation from the Department of Planning. Once there
is a determination on the proposal we will be able to work
out where Splendour will be
held in 2012.’
Q A public meeting will

be held by the Planning
Assesment Commission on
Wednesday February 1, 2012,
at the Byron Community
Centre. An advertisement
with full details is on page 15.

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Mullum’s new chamber of commerce
world we’d call ourselves something like the business owners’
groups, but the format was all
there for the chamber, so we
went with that.’

Mandy Nolan

A few years back if you went to
a Mullumbimby Chamber of
Commerce meeting you’d be
lucky to find three people, but
thanks to Janelle Stanford of
the Mullumbimby Newsagency, that is no longer the case.
The Mullumbimby Chamber of Commerce is a vital and
inclusive organisation that now
boasts over 20 members.
Dean Stanford, Janelle’s husband, is the Chamber president. He remarked that the
group really got going when
Janelle got involved in branding Mullumbimby for TV advertising.
‘We realised we needed something to handle the participants
in that campaign, so back on
October 20 we had our AGM
and voted in the executive.’
The executive include Margaret Hatch of Mooyabil Farm
Holidays as treasurer, Paul
Medeiros of Eden’s Landing as
secretary and Janelle Stanford
as publicity officer.
The Mullumbimby Chamber of Commerce say they are
committed to representing
the interests of Mullumbimby
business, in the style they believe best suits the town.
‘We’re not trying to be formal in our meetings, we want
it to be laid back,’ said Janelle.
In their first two meetings

Tweed/Byron police have a
called off a search for a woman
who may not have returned
from a late-night swim at Byron Bay on Saturday night.
Melissa Hargreaves told The
Echo her friend saw a woman
on Main Beach undress and
walk into the surf sometime
between 10.30pm and 11.30pm.
Shortly after midnight they
returned and found the woman’s clothing still on the beach.

Initiatives launched

The new Mullum chamber of commerce team: from left
Margaret Hatch, Dean Stanford and Janelle Stanford.
Photo Jeff ‘ Three Chambers’ Dawson

vision for the Mullum Chamber of Commerce is about ‘the
village theme’.
‘I have a bit of a nostalgic angle; I’ve just finished bringing
my kids up here but I want to
keep the spirit of the town going that makes it such a great
place for people to bring up
their families here in the future.
Nostalgic events
‘People like Trent Morris of
Dean believes that the strat- Rock N Roll Cafe (also a chamegies are about ‘advertising ber member), who is new in
Mullum as a town again to town – we want to keep the
place vital well into the future.’
bring the visitors back.’
Margaret Hatch was keen to
see some nostalgic events re- Non-political
instated on the Mullumbimby
Dean is adamant that the vicalendar, such as the Chin- sion of the Mullum chamber
cogan Fiesta, but with a whole is apoliticial. ‘We don’t want
new format.
to be political, we’re not beAccording to Dean, the key hind any elections. In an ideal
the group discussed numerous initiatives to invigorate the
township.
‘We want to do jazz on the
river by the park’ says Janelle,
who was inspired by the success of the recent Mullum Music Festival. ‘It’s such a great
atmosphere’.

The Mullum chamber have
already launched initiatives to
stimulate trade in downtown
Mullumbimby.
This Thursday and Thursday
December 22 are late-night
shopping in Mullumbimby,
with the later date also featuring a small Christmas carnival
that features carols, performances by local kids and of
course a visit by Santa Claus.
It seems the whole town will
be getting involved with Mullumbimby’s first ever Christmas lights competition, with
$200 prize money fronted by
Ray Towers for the best fairy
lights on a residential home.
Echo writer, local personality
and lover of all things sparkly
(yours truly, Mandy Nolan),
will be judging the entrants
on the December 18 with the
winner to be announced in the
next issue of The Echo.
The Mullumbimby chamber
of commerce meet on the second Tuesday of every month in
roving locations.
Business membership is
just $100. Pop into the Mullum newsagency to pick up a
membership form.

They alerted police and patrols
of Main Beach and Belongil
Beach began without success.
This search continued on
Sunday morning, with helicopter and surf life savers as well
as foot patrols of local beaches.
Police say at this time there
have been no reports of anyone
missing. Anyone with information should contact Byron Bay
police or Crime Stoppers on
1800 333 000.

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International day of solidarity for
Bradley Manning, December 17
Byron Bay will be participating
in an international day of solidarity with Bradley Manning
for his 24th birthday.
The US Army intelligence analyst is facing life imprisonment
for having allegedly transmitted
classified US military information to WikiLeaks.
Supporters insist that the
information rightfully belongs
in the public domain and that
whistle-blowers must be protected because ‘Exposing War
Crimes is Not a Crime’.
He purportedly wrote, ‘I
want people to see the truth…

regardless of who they are... because without information, you
cannot make informed decisions as a public’.
Organiser of Byron’s solidarity action, Katharine Dawn, says,
‘Given the infamous reputation
of the United States for its military detention practices, a new
bill has just passed in the US
senate – The National Defense
Authorization Act.
‘It could allow the military
to detain American citizens
indefinitely without a trial and
has provoked public outcry. Let’s
stand as a culture of peace, truth

and justice with an icon of these
most precious ideals.’
Ms Dawn says that after 18
months of severe incarceration
at the hands of the US military,
Manning’s pre-trial finally begins the day before his birthday,
December 16.
Everyone is welcome on
Saturday, December 17 to a
birthday ceremony at the Byron Peace Pole from 12 noon;
a public forum at Railway Park
from 2pm to 3.30pm and then a
birthday candle lighting at the
Byron Artisans Market (bring a
candle) from 8pm.

Detective inspector Shane
Diehm, formerly crime manager at Tweed-Byron Local Area Command, will be
sacked after allegedly testing
positive to cocaine, The Daily
Telegraph reported on Sunday.
Mr Diehm, who was well
known and grew up in the area,
was suspended on full pay in
August, as previously reported
in The Echo.

After the success of last year’s
Melbourne and Sydney events,
The Evolve Yoga and Wellness
Festival is coming to Byron
Shire.
‘The burgeoning of yoga
festivals is testament to the
growth of the yoga and wellness industry,’ says festival director Miranda Burne.
‘Evolve Yoga and Wellness
Festival will be a haven away
from Byron’s busy mid-summer streets, and will offer an
enlightening line-up of yoga,
breathing and mediation classes with high-profile teachers,
voice and dance workshops,
discussion groups, kirtan
and more.’
The Evolve Yoga and Wellness Festival will be held on
January 21 at the Byron Bay
Public School. For more visit
www.evolveyogafestival.com.
au. Volunteers welcome.

At that time police media
confirmed his suspension but
would not explain why.
Yesterday’s report says that
Diehm, together with another
serving police officer, Inspector
Matthew Dennis and an AFP
Sky Marshall, Darren Kolosque,
were all facing the sack after allegedly taking cocaine at a farewell party for retiring detective
superintendent John Alt.

There is no suggestion the
detective superintendent knew
anything about the alleged incident.
The newspaper said that Mr
Diehm will not face criminal
charges but will be dealt with
via a ‘loss of confidence’ motion by Commissioner Andrew
Scipione and stood down.
Police media declined to
comment.

NEFA slams federal logging report
The North-East Forest Alliance
(NEFA) says it is ‘outraged at
the bias’ of the federal House of
Representatives report ‘Inquiry
into the future of the Australian Forestry Industry’ and its
refusal to consider the timber
supply crisis and the overlogging of north-east NSW’s
public forests.
NEFA spokesperson Dailan

Pugh said that most of the evidence presented in NEFA’s 111page submission was ignored
by the inquiry on the grounds
that it ‘criticised the industry’.
‘What they didn’t ignore they
misrepresented. This pretend
inquiry was a sham,’ he said.
‘The Commonwealth is party to the North East Regional
Forest Agreement (RFA) and

claims that it satisfies its national and international obligations for the protection of
world heritage, national estate
and threatened species.
‘While national heritage values were meant to be addressed
as part of the RFA, they were
not…
‘A decade later and there has
still been no assessment.’

Council plans more public meetings
Hans Lovejoy

A motion to hold quarterly
informal meetings between
councillors, staff and business
and community members got
the green light this week at
Thursday’s Council meeting.
The Byron Shire Business
Roundtable was put forward
by Cr Simon Richardson and
Mayor Jan Barham and was
passed with all in favour except
Cr Tom Tabart.
Cr Richardson told the
chamber it would be an informal meeting that would provide an opportunity for business and community members
to mingle with Council staff
and councillors.
‘It was a request from the
Byron chamber of commerce
(Byron United) and Council’s
general manager. It’s to build
bridges and would not be an
impost.’ During discussion, Cr

Ross Tucker said he was cautious, saying such a roundtable had been tried before but
didn’t last. ‘People would come
with a bee in their bonnet.’
He claimed staff would
could potentially be accused
of inactions and then eventually the GM would be blamed.
Cr Tucker regaled his fellow councillors with a story of
a former business owner who
used the platform to air his
grievances and then became
a councillor and endured the
same treatment.
Cr Diane Woods sought to
find the humour in such an
encounter. ‘I think it would
be funny,’ she said. ‘The numbers that would turn up would
be dependent on the issues at
hand… It’s good to have a go.’
Cr Tom Tabart kept his response short and to the point:
‘I am against it. It is the triumph of hope over experience.’

6 day
super
sale on

moval etc. Then of course there
are the more recent topics such
as branding and marketing
campaigns, the community
market policy and the formation of an LTO (Local Tourism
Organisation) that would handle a lot of the current work
Chamber supportive that BU does. That may include
Byron’s chamber of com- the Byron Naturally marketing
merce president Paul Waters campaign and helping run the
told The Echo, ‘This is a wel- new year’s eve festivities.’
come development and in line
with my effort to communicate
and work better with councillors and staff.
‘I would hope that this
doesn’t turn into another talk
fest and we can actually see
some positive action taking
place with some of the key concerns of the chamber of commerce that have already been
outlined and discussed.
‘This includes traffic, parking, cleanliness and presentation of the town, graffiti reThe Mayor, however, was
more positive and pointed to
recent public meetings. ‘It’s not
about being liked, it’s about
listening to our community.
We’re in this together and it
would serve us well.’

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showcased their photos at this
yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SNAP! Photographic Exhibition.Â This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sÂ theme was
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Daydreams &Â Nightmaresâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.
Amber Rain and Kayla
Moon scooped the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Choice. The competition is
sponsored by Byron Youth Service and Byron Hire.

It was all smiles on Thursday as
the Byron Shire Youth Council
held its end-of-year event and
award ceremony.
Youth Council member Justin Fenwick thanked all those
involved. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;There are some wonderful community people who
have supported and assisted
young people in getting youth
events and initiatives up and
running,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; he said.

kit was also launched at the
event.
The new resource kit aims
to de-stigmatise mental health
issues amongst young people
and the wider community
whist providing information
on the types of support available to young people.
The kit was funded by Beyond Blue and Byron Shire
Council.

Greens MP and environment
spokesperson Cate Faehrmann
says the announcement from
the NSW primary industries
regarding a seasonal closure of
commercial pipi harvesting will
be welcomed by conservationists
and fishers alike.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;ŚWe need better protection for the species before it
is completely wiped out,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; said
Ms Faehrmann. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;When visiting the North Coast recently
I met with recreational fishers
who told me about the rapid
decline of pipis due to overharvesting in recent years.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
DPI minister Katrina Hodgkinson said the six-month closure until June 1 next year is a
recommendation of the crosssector Pipi Resource Planning
Group.

Metgasco boasts 300 signatories at Lismore meeting
Chris Dobney

Fishbone fern colonising Byron Bay Dwarf Graminoid
Clay Heath, an Endangered Ecological Community.
Similar natives: Sickle Fern Pellaea falcata has leaves
that are dark green above and lighter green below and
hairy, scaly stems. Prickly Rasp Fern Doodia aspera has a
black scaly stem, pink ďŹ&#x201A;ushes of new growth, and roughly
textured leaves.
What you can do to help: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t plant it! If it is in your
garden, remove it and replace with local natives such
as Prickly Rasp Fern, Sickle Fern, or Maidenhair Ferns
Adiantum hispidulum or Adiantum aethiopicum.
How to remove: Hand remove by crowning out, ensuring
that all underground rhizomes and tubers are extracted.
Can also be spot sprayed with glyphosate at 1:50 (200 ml
in 10l H20) plus metsulfuron methyl (1.5g in 10l H20) plus
non-ionic surfactant. Fishbone Fern often forms a dense
monoculture that is most suitable for spray treatment
followed by hand weeding or spot spraying of regrowth.

The boss of coal-seam gas
mining company Metgasco,
Peter Henderson, told an
invitation-only meeting in
Lismore last week that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;about
300â&#x20AC;&#x2122; farmers had signed agreements to allow the proposed
Lions Way pipeline to pass
through their land.
The pipeline is critical to
Metgascoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plans to develop
a gas-mining hub centred on
Casino exporting gas over the
border for power generation
in Queensland.
The meeting was organised by Lismore Nationals
MP Thomas George, whose
son Stewart George works for
Metgasco as a land manager.
The Echo understands the

role involves visiting farmers
with the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s documents and persuading them
to sign with Metgasco. Stewart
George is also a Casino councillor and a board member of
Rous Water.
The meeting was for representatives of councils, coalseam gas companies and
community organisationsÂ to
meet the NSW Trade and Investment executive director of
mineral resources, Brad Mullard.
But an attendee at the meeting told The Echo that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;he just
listened and smiled and talked
scientific jargon.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;He said they havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t got
one bit of evidence that crosscontamination of aquifers has
occurred in Australia,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; said

New Fresh Juice Bar
NOW OPEN!

Lesley McQueen, the invited
representative of Kyogle GAG.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Mr George didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t voice how
he felt personally.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;He kept on asking everyone
else, saying we need to take
everybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comments into
account,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; she said.

Manipulated
Ms McQueen was critical of
the way the meeting was held
and said she felt the group
was manipulated into excluding demonstrators from being
able to listen at the back of the
room.
She said when the group
entered the room Mr George
initially left the door open, saying something to the effect of
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;do you think we can have a
discussion with all these people
around?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
A woman from NSW Farmers Federation stood up and
said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d prefer if it could be
kept to the existing group as it
was hard to have a discussion
with even 30 people.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;He said â&#x20AC;&#x153;letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s have a voteâ&#x20AC;?. Ef-

fectively it was just a few nods
of heads.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
Ms McQueen said one invitee left the room in protest.
Mr George went out to
confront the crowd but when
he saw that one of them was
videoing the proceedings he
refused to talk with them.

George refuses antiCSG participation
The videographer, Dean
Draper, told The Echo he felt
personally excluded from the
meeting.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I spoke at the Alstonville
Senate Inquiry meeting as a
landholder. [Mr George] had
invited a number of other
speakers from that meeting so
I contacted his office and asked
to be invited.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;He refused, saying itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for
representatives of groups. I
said I was representative of Casino Group Against Gas and he
said it was out of his area.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Yet the Casino mayor was
invited and so was Metgasco.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

For more info see www.byron.nsw.gov.au/weed-proďŹ les
or contact the Bush Futures Project OfďŹ cer on 6626-7219.

Do not dump garden waste. It is illegal and
contributes to the spread of weeds.

WE’LL MATCH ANY LOCALLY ADVERTISED PRICE - FOR MORE DETAILS ON THE CELLAR PRICE GUARANTEE SEE WWW.THECELLAR.COM.AU OR ASK ONE OF OUR FRIENDLY STAFF IN STORE FOR DETAILS tOPEN 7 DAYS t PHONE ORDERS WELCOME
LIQUOR & TOBACCO NOT SOLD TO PERSONS UNDER 18 YEARS t THE CELLAR SUPPORTS THE RESPONSIBLE SERVICE & CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL t OFFERS AVAILABLE TO CLOSE OF TRADE 19/12/2011 WHILE PRESENT STOCKS LAST.

www.echo.net.au

<echowebsection=The Cellar>

The Byron Shire Echo December 13, 2011 9

Local News
Advertisement

Local banking team
buys BOQ Byron Bay

LOCAL banking team David Thomson and Matthew
Irwin have taken a brave step and have purchased
their own bank branch.
The pair have worked together locally in banking for
four years and have now bought the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) Byron Bay branch. David and Matthew
are now operating the branch as owner-managers.
Matthew, a Byron Bay local, said it was the service
and community focus which attracted him to the
Bank’s Owner Managed Branch model.
‘Having grown up in the local area, I have seen first
hand how Byron and the surrounding townships have
grown and developed in to a really unique community,’ he said. ‘I think we offer the best of both worlds,
because we have a laid-back approach to life that is
very attractive to tourists, but we’ve also retained our
community values. It’s a fine line and I think most local tourism operators are to be commended for their
balanced approach.
Matthew said it was not just tourism that kept Byron
Bay alive. He said it was the small business operators,
across a wide range of industries, that give Byron the
character and spirit that made the town so popular.
‘David and I can offer local business operators a really
unique service, because not only can we offer them
finance, but as business owners ourselves we really
appreciate the challenges and opportunities specific
to running a small business,’ he said.
‘It gives us a really unique perspective in terms of
working with small business operators to help them
grow their business.’

David agreed, saying the Byron Bay business community had come a long way since he first moved to
the area six years ago.
‘I’ve seen real changes in the local area and believe
that Matt and I can offer Byron business operators
a combination of personal service, support and
business finance that our competitors can’t match,’
he said. And of course it’s not just businesses we
can help. We will offer personal customers BOQ’s
competitive product range, but with the personal
service that comes from owning our own branch and
running our own business.
‘At the end of the day, if our customers aren’t happy,
they’ll take their business elsewhere and, as every
small business operator knows, no business can
survive without customers.
‘So we will go above and beyond to make sure our
customers are not just happy, but are actually referral
sources for our branch.’
Matthew and David are both active in the local community, with rugby and cricket being two of their
passions. ‘We both believe that the Byron community
offers something unique in terms of community spirit
and a sense of working together,’ David said.
‘We have something great to offer the local community and we know the community gets behind locals
to get in and give it their best shot, so we’re confident
that our BOQ branch will continue to grow and succeed. So drop in and see us at the branch.
We’d be more than happy to sit down and have a chat, and
talk about how we can best meet your banking needs.’

The rain did not prevent the
faithful from gathering in Railway Park in Byron Bay to celebrate Human Rights Day on
Saturday December 10.
A highlight of the day was
the completion of the dolphin
dreaming painting on the door
of the Byron Environment
Centre by Arakwal-Bundjalung artist Annette Harding.
The dolphin is the totem of
the Arakwal women.
Organisers set up stalls with
info on human rights issues
and collected signatures for petitions, including against coalseam gas mining and against
the building of the Belo Monte
dam in Brazil.
Local activist Liliana Coredor explained how human
rights went hand in hand with
environmental rights and the
rights of indigenous people.
The Belo Monte dam was
going to inundate an area the
size of Tasmania and destroy
the lives of over 50,000 indigenous people and put at risk
their culture.
‘The Amazon belongs to all
people and we should protect
it from destruction’ was her
message.’

Other speakers on the
day included Gabriel Bohnet on housing in Byron Bay,
Margeaux Marshall on human
rights and the work of Amnesty
International, Michael Balderstone from the Nimbin HEMP
Embassy on Nimbin’s drug war
experience, James Moylan from
Southern Cross Uni’s student
union on civil rights, and John
Lazarus from the Byron Environment Centre.
Many speakers suggested
that the corporate forces that
were busy destroying the environment were the very ones
that the global ‘Occupy’ movement was fighting: the big
banks and mining companies.
Maggi Luke, long-time Byron resident, spoke on Byron’s
recent experience of being

‘occupied’ by the police, with
sniffer dogs, riot squad and
mounted police inundating the
town for schoolies week.
Several speakers opined that
with a 73 per cent error rate
the use of sniffer dogs by the
police seemed at best a publicity stunt, at worst simple
harassment of people, rather
than a serious crime prevention strategy.
As one speaker noted, ‘The
police are here to serve the
public and not the other way
around’.
A huge line-up of talented
local artists kept the crowds
entertained and ended with a
jam session that featured Simon
‘Fyah Walk’ Jerems, Shai Shriki
and the lads from Allensworth
visiting from LA.

New Writers’ Festival director appointed
Jonathan Parsons has been announced as the new Byron Bay
Writers’ Festival (BBWF) director for 2012.
If you are looking for some
interesting reading between
now and the festival, Jonathan’s
CV is a good place to start.
He started out as artistic director of the Sydney Gay and
Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival
from 1996 to 2000 and was recently artistic advisor for the
AWESOME Festival (Perth’s
leading youth contemporary
arts festival).
Between these two gigs
Jonathan has been director of public programs at the
Queensland State Library
(2007–2009), during which
time he managed more than
110 events and oversaw the

<echowebsection=Local News>

doubling of participation
numbers.
He was one of seven international associates who developed
the 2008 London International
Festival of Theatre program,
and from 2002 to 2007 he was
the festival director for Bris-

bane’s Riverfestival – the city’s
major annual community cultural and environment festival.
Jonathan was quick to acknowledge the importance of
the Byron community, and
especially the members of the
Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre, as being crucial to the success of the BBWF.
‘Having worked on a range
of festivals and events I know
that the core support of members and the community is vital to the success of any major
event, so I’m very much looking forward to developing and
delivering a festival that our
members can be proud of and
the local community would be
happy to stand behind.’
The BBWF will run from
August 3 to 5, 2012.

www.echo.net.au

Local News

Get Echo news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au

Recycling at the triple bottom line
Kate Pye

There was a buzz in the air at
the Waste and Recycling Expo
in Sydney last month as some
really exciting developments in
recycling are finally taking place
because of legislation changes.
Not many people have heard
about the Product Stewardship
Act 2011, which was passed in
August this year. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legislation
that encourages manufacturers
and importers to be responsible
for the impacts their products
have on the environment once
theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re disposed of.
This is going to be absolutely necessary to tackle our
problem with e-waste, which
is set to rise if the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
unsettling predictions are anything to go by.
By 2030 we will apparently
keep our televisions and com-

puters for half the time we do
now, down to an average of
three years for TVs and one and
a half years for PCs.
These figures ring alarm bells
for our current recycling infrastructure and the fact that
many computers are still going
to landfill.
The first project to be
launched is the National Television and Computer Recycling
Scheme. It will mean all importers and manufacturers of more
than 5000 TVs or PCs per annum will pay a levy that will
help fund permanent collection
sites, take-back events or mailback options for us consumers
to dispose of our unwanted
products free of charge.
Recycling targets will start at
30 per cent by June 2012 and
rise every year to 80 per cent
by 2021.

ply makes sense to put proper
channels in place to make it
easier for consumers to recycle.
Considering that there will
be twice the number of electronic goods produced, it is exciting legislation that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m hoping through its implementation
will encourage manufacturers
to start thinking about their
product designs.
If they become responsible
for disposing of the waste they
are producing, will they ease
up on the consumerist-driven
product upgrades?
How manufactures and importers react to the legislation
is yet to be seen. What is certain
is recycling is no longer being
seen as a luxury, but as an absolute necessity.

Finally the government is
realising that the recycling industry needs a helping hand
with infrastructure and manufacturers need a little push to
take some responsibility for the
waste theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re producing.
E-waste is full of precious
metals which can be used again Q Kate Pye is education officer
and are becomingly increas- for Solo Resource Recovery,
ingly expensive to buy. It sim- based in Bangalow.

Byron Arts Classic displays community mosaic
An artists-in-residence program and a large community
mosaic wall mural will add an
exciting new dimension to the
Byron Arts Classic.
In line with the Arts Classic
theme to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;bring the community
to art and art to the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
two artists-in-residence plan to
build on the cultural fabric of
Byron by holding hands-on
workshops for the creation of
aÂ mosaic installation to reflect

the spirit of Byron
The artists, Turiya Bruce and
Pyari Cau, have consulted widely with community members
and organisations including
Arakwal Aboriginal corporation, and the Byron Community Centre.
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We found people wanted the
mosaic to capture the spirit of
Byron â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cavanbahâ&#x20AC;?, the Bundjalung word for â&#x20AC;&#x153;meeting placeâ&#x20AC;?
and a place where the moun-

tains meet the sea. The work
will be designed like flowing
wave,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Turiya and Pyari explained.
The 6m by one metre glass
and tile mosaic will be a community creation, a public workin-progress, over the six days
of the 2012 Arts Classic from
January 6 to 11 held at the Byron
Community Centre.
A three-hour daily workshop
with up to 15 participants join

)ULGD\WK
'HFHPEHU

with the artists-in-residence
to develop the skills needed to
work as a mosaic artist.Â Â
On the final day it will be
mounted on a wall at the Byron
Community Centre by a professional tiler to become a major
cultural feature of the town.
For bookings or further information contact coordinator Tess Cullen at artsclassic@
byroncentre.com.au or 6685
6807.

he result, when it was finally announced, was the
right one: the ABC has
been granted the right to run
Volume 26 #27
December 13, 2011
the Australia Network in perpetuity.
Any decision to hand the
channel by which our country
communicates with other counDemocracy triumphed over appalling policy last Monday week.
tries to commercial interests
Perhaps the most inspiring thing about the draft market policy
would have been absurd, and
meeting held at the community centre is that everyone, from
to give it to Sky News – partly
business owners, stallholders and the public, had a go. Good
owned by BSkyB, which is in
questions were asked and a lot of ground was covered.
turn controlled by Rupert MurAnd as to be expected Kerry O’Brien did an excellent job as chair;
doch – would have been frankly
he was on topic, asked pertinent questions and kept it tight and
unthinkable.
light. Best of all he aimed for a resolution at the end of the meeting
No other country on earth,
which gave councillors the clear message that the draft policy did
or
at least none of those which
not reflect community wishes.
Some critics claim that breaking the Byron market monopoly held have a national, publicly owned
by the Community Centre could potentially uncover a racket, and/or broadcaster, even puts its overseas service out to tender; can
free it up to be administered more democratically.
you imagine the Poms bypassIt appears like sour grapes. Everyone – ie the stallholders – at that
meeting was in total support of current management. As Community ing the Beeb to hand their window to the world over to the
Centre manager Paul Spooner said at the time, no-one else is better
Dirty Digger, for him to harness
placed to administer local markets than a community centre.
it to his own business interests,
But our state government overlords have spoken (have they?)
not to mention his own partisan
and it must be open to tender. Councillors fear that now the state
political prejudices.
is grabbing at caravan parks previously managed by councils they
Even in the United States,
could turn to public lands such as sportsfields and parks. To prevent
with no equivalent public serthat, they say, policies like this need to be properly enshrined to
vice, the licence is given to the
protect community assets from state takeovers.
middle-of-the-road commercial
Council’s problem is that it still has no constitutional recognition
CNN rather than to Rupert’s
as part of the third tier of government and remains in thrall to the
rabid Fox News. It really is a
state government.
The only thing that appears to give any state governement reason no-brainer.
But while the outcome was
to act (under either party) is the legislation they are bound by, or
perhaps bad press.
both correct and inevitable, the
However, as with anything legal, the winner is the one with the
process by which the governbest advice, and as elections are held every four years, there’s a lot of ment delivered it was a total
ignoring that can happen in between when it comes to bad PR.
stuffup.
A lot is at stake. Many livelihoods. I know stallholders who are
And it arose from the fact that
paying off property and feeding families (partly) from market
the government, as is so often
income. It’s a cornerstone of our identity, it’s a major tourist
the case, took the soft option
attraction and a regular local hang.
and decided to follow the pracThe best speech all night was from a quietly spoken farmer who
tice of its lamentable predecessimply said to the audience, ‘You allow us to do what we love. It’s not sor, rather than cutting loose
a huge income, but without this, we wouldn’t be here.’
and doing its own thing.
Let’s hope the second draft of the market policy will allow
Until the Howard years, there
localisation to thrive instead of whatever it is the state government had been no thought of putting
wants.
the network out to tender at
Hans Lovejoy, editor all; it was simply assumed that
the job would go to the ABC.
After all, this had always been
the case with the other overseas
broadcast network, Radio AusEstablished 1986
tralia; why should television be
Publisher David Lovejoy
any different?
Editor Hans Lovejoy
Well, because Howard and his
Photographer Jeff Dawson
ministers did not like the ABC:

they regarded it as politically
suspect, and definitely on the
wrong side in the culture war
which the government was running against political correctness, elitism, the black armband
view of history, the nanny state
– oh, all right, against anything
to the left of Genghis Khan.
They therefore saw the chance
to give Aunty a good corrective
kick in the cods by allowing its
only possible rival, Sky News, to
put in a bid, in the enthusiastic

The bids went to an independent assessment panel, and a strategic leak informed the public
that Sky had won. So the government, in the guise of Gillard and
Conroy, who had emerged as
rearguard defenders of the ABC
(or at least zealous opponents of
Sky) amended the process on the
somewhat specious grounds that
events in the Middle East meant
the ground rules had changed.
It didn’t work; Sky, as the leaks
again assured us, won again.

The shemozzle has undoubtedly
reinforced the impression that
the government couldn’t raffle
a duck in a pub without losing
the bird in the process.
by Mungo MacCallum
hope that it would be a successful one. In the event it wasn’t;
indeed, it was so clearly inferior
that even with the worst will in
the world it could not be awarded the prize and the ABC ran the
service for the next five years.
But Sky learned from the experience, and was eager for a
second chance, in which it was
prepared to pull out all possible stops to beat its more impoverished public rival. And to
the surprise of many of his colleagues, Kevin Rudd, the newly
created foreign minister in Julia
Gillard’s government, offered it
the opportunity.
The matter was in his purview
rather than that of communications minister Stephen Conroy
because Rudd’s DFAT was the
one that picked up the bills; this
was itself a matter of some rancour.
And it was intensified when
Rudd announced sonorously:
‘The government has decided
that the next Australia Network
contract will be put to a competitive open tender process to
ensure the best possible service
in return for its investment.’

were pretty much apeshit already
so from that narrow perspective
not much political harm has
been done. But the shemozzle
has undoubtedly reinforced the
impression that the government
couldn’t raffle a duck in a pub
without mislabelling the tickets,
fixing the draw and losing the
bird in the process.
This leads to the obvious
question: why on earth go to
tender in the first place? And
the answer appears to be a blind
faith in a misguided ideology,
specifically the virtues of competition above all else. The theory is that competition delivers
lower prices and hence better
value for the consumer.
Well, it may lower prices, at
least temporarily, but there is no
evidence at all that it provides
better value if you take into account things like quality, public
interest, or customer satisfaction.
There are times when inviting competition for institutions
which are already working quite
satisfactorily is not only unnecessary but positively counterproductive.
Believe me, I speak from bitter
and recent personal experience:
the state government insists
that we open our local markets,
much loved and respected community enterprises, to outside
bidders, a demand which has
split the council, infuriated the
population and achieved – well,
what? A tick from some wildeyed free-marketeer in an office
in Macquarie Street.
Okay, the Byron markets are
not quite on the scale of the
Australia Network, but surely
the same sound conservative
principle applies to both: if it
ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
And don’t, whatever you do,
let the politicians and the bureaucrats near it.
It will only end in tears. Yours.

But in the meantime Conroy had also won; Cabinet had
given Rudd the flick and placed
Conroy, whose antipathy to all
things Murdoch rather more
closely reflected the majority
view than Rudd’s ambivalence,
in sole charge of the tender.
He promptly aborted it altogether, claiming that the leaks
had irrevocably compromised
the process, although it was not
entirely clear how or why.
He asked for a police investigation and, for good measure,
an Auditor General’s inquiry
into the whole tendering procedure. But then, before getting
the reports of either, Conroy said
what the heck, he was giving the
bloody thing to the ABC anyway, and not just for the next five
years, but forever.
Oh, and sometime next year
Cabinet would start worrying
about just what it was it actually
wanted the ABC to do, and just
how, if at all, it would enforce its
requests. In the meantime, the
cheque was in the mail.
Q See Mungo live at
Unsurprisingly, Murdoch’s
local mouthpieces have been
apeshit ever since, but then, they www.echonetdaily.net.au

The team at BHDC would like
to wish all our patients the very
best over the holiday season and
a happy and peaceful new year.

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Market
12 December 13, 2011 The Byron Shire Echo

<echowebsection=Comment>

As the heart of the practice we
thank you for your support and
look forward to providing you
with the very best in dental care
in 2012.
BRUNSWICK HOLISTIC DENTAL CENTRE
6685 1264 WWW.BRUNSWICKDENTAL.NET
www.echo.net.au

Letters

Get Echo news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au

Council is in working order
In regard to the Echo editorial
of the December 6, we would
like to reply to matters raised
by the editor.
Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s compliance policy
is not selective. The compliance priorities are set each year
and adopted by Council. In addition they can be amended at
any time by Council. Therefore,
the administration is bound by
the adopted list of compliance
priorities. At the same time,
the compliance team has dealt
with 565 customer action requests in 2010/11; a full report
on compliance and the 2012
priorities will be reported to
Council on December 15.
Council is not in denial
about workplace bullying. Independent investigations conducted to date do not support
allegations published in your
paper that bullying exists at Byron Shire Council.

The workers compensation
scheme in NSW is a no-fault
scheme. Workers do not have
to prove any wrongdoing by
any employer.
Workers merely have to
show that the injury arises out
of employment (ie it is related
to employment) or it occurs
in the course of employment
(ie it happened at work) and
that employment made a contribution, which was not an
insignificant contribution, to
the development of the injury.
Bullying and harassment prevention forms part of all new
employee inductions and training and education on the issue
has been held on a regular basis.
The best interests of any staff
member who puts in a workers
compensation claim is always
considered, and Council does
its very best to enable the employee to recover and return to

work as soon as they can.
Finally, Council has taken
on the state government on
numerous occasions; the recommendations for reform to
coastal legislation, the inflexibility of the LEP planning
template, land acquisition at
Brunswick Heads and Byron
Bay, and the highway upgrade
of the Ewingsdale and Bangalow interchanges are a few
examples.
At all times, Council and the
administration aim to ensure
that the ratepayersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; assets and
amenity are protected. Like all
councils, this can prove challenging in an environment
where the needs and wants of
the community are growing
at a disproportionate rate to
available funding.

Happily employed

If we stopped this slaughter,
how long would it be before
we would be overrun by these
suffering beasts?
They are unwanted, often injured or deformed and sometimes outright dangerous and
I feel it more humane to send
them to the factory than save
them, for what? Twenty some
odd years of slowly starving
to death while suffering from
whatever made them unwanted in the first place?
In 65 years of being around
horses Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never seen one tethered on the roadside. Maybe in
England?

ment to have a mammogram
in the van or at Lismore or
Tweed Heads by phoning 132
050. For women not due to
have their mammogram at this
time, and who would have difficulty travelling to the Lismore
Breast Screening facility for
their two-yearly mammogram,
the Ballina Breast Cancer Support Group/Drop in Centre offers free transport for women
in the Ballina and Byron Bay
shires. Phone me on 0413 027
446 for a lift.

In reply to Backlash in the December 6 issue and his snide
remarks regarding older residents who will not retire to
make way for the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;young people desperate for workâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; I make
the following comments.
1. Many people in the age
bracket of 50 to 65 mentioned
did not necessarily have the
benefit of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s superannuation schemes and need to
continue working to sustain
themselves.
2. Retiring at 65 years is a
very early 20th century construct when the average life
span was in the late sixties.
3. Idleness is not a natural
state and many people in their
sixties and seventies enjoy
an active life which involves
working.
4 Many employers are keen
to employ people in the older
age ranges as they have experience, enthusiasm and the will
to get things done.
5 Many of the older age
group own businesses and provide employment.
6. How many of these â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;desperate young peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; are getting an education or training
or willing to move elsewhere
for the occupations that are
needed?

W B Crompton

Graeme Faulkner

General Manager
Byron Shire Council

Robyn Sparks

Ballina

Occupy yourself

Mullumbimby We need a few more Occupy
movements like Occupy your
Market correction
Body, Occupy Earth, and OcI would like to apologise for cupy Mines. The carbon econimplying that the Byron Farm- omy has become a massive
ers Market management didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t corporate-sponsored death inpay me (Letters, December 6); surance policy: claimed while
they did, 31 days after I played alive and paid for after our
at the Bangalow market, which death by those who live on.
is their terms for payment.
Mark Byrneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take on climate
There was confusion over inaction (Echo, December 6),
payment time as my invoice to as satisfying a deep human
them was seven days. However urge to teeter on the edge of
I have now been paid.
existence, is fascinating. It reI hope the Byron Farmers minds me of that famous paMarket will consider remuner- perback The Suicide Pact by
ating local musicians sooner Hugo First.
than 31 days.
We could say climate catasPaol Serret trophe is simply another rite of
Katie Clarke
Mullumbimby passage longed for by EarthOcean Shores
lings sickened by the pamperScreening returns
ing of nanny states.
Q Backlash was merely I just want to express my pleasPerhaps the personal growth
sympathising with youth. He ure that the Breast Screen NSW afficionados could find better
himself is 60 and intends to mobile breast screening van ways to teeter on the edge of
keep working for a few years will again be in Byron Bay very existence that wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take half
yet. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Ed
early in January. We nearly lost the planet out. Teeter Workthis vital service but thanks to shops, featuring lighthouse
Horse welfare
thousands of signatures, stren- Cliff Strolls, Fire Crawling,
Just reading Dawn Black- uous lobbying, and representa- and Inversion Burials; not to
wellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s article (Echo, December tion by our local politicians, mention Binge Drinking 101
6) and the mention of horses the service continues, however for schoolies... or how about
somewhere between 40,000 only for two weeks of the year. rooftop-teetering solar instaland 100,000 killed every year. Women can make an appoint- lation workshops?
Must we really accept the
limitations that the fullness of
Letters to the Editor
life is best felt in the midst of
Send to Letters Editor Michael McDonald, fax: 6684 1719
death, that escape from sufferemail: editor@echo.net.au Deadline: Noon, Friday. Letters longer
ing and attachment is through
than 200 words may be cut. Letters already published in other
attachment to suffering, and
papers will not be considered. Please include your full name,
address and phone number for verification purposes.

www.echo.net.au

continued on page 15

Eyeballs
on pages...
With such a dedicated readership, The Echo is the more
effective way to reach your customers. For advertising
enquiries please call 6684 1777 or email adcopy@echo.net.au

STRICTLY LIMITED STOCK ON SOME LINES – CASH & CREDIT CARD ONLY.
THE TEAM AT BRIDGLANDS WISH OUR MANY CUSTOMERS, SUPPLIERS &
FRIENDS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & A SAFE & HAPPY NEW YEAR!
WE THANK YOU FOR STICKING BY US IN WHAT HAS BEEN A DIFFICULT YEAR.

BRIDGLANDS
14 December 13, 2011 The Byron Shire Echo

MULLUMBIMBY
6684 2511

www.echo.net.au

Letters

Get Echo news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au

Dwelling compliance and the potential existence of God
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; open slather. Please just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
kill anyone with faulty wiring
or dodgy plumbing! After all,
these are long-standing, noisy
locals offering praiseworthy
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;affordableâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; accommodation
(even if they make money from
rent, just like any other landlord) so they are â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;specialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and
why should their unapproved
buildings be forced to comply
with Council requirements?
Who knows, some might even
commit the mortal sin of attracting and renting to awful
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;holiday makersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Quelle horreur! What a load of self-serving cobblers!
Come on, guys â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I just built
here â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the building codes are
not especially unreasonable
and are trying to work for the
greater good. We surely canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
condone two sets of rules, simply to suit a few noisy hypocrites.
Ian Gow

New Brighton
QContrary to what was printed

in last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Echo on page 1,
the Council at its meeting on
December 1 did not quite vote
to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;ease off on unauthorised
dwellings in the hinterland and
concentrate instead on unap-

continued from page 13

In these â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;plug me inâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; times, it
is a great treat to see kids having fun, using their bodies and
channelling their energies.
Congratulations to Leonie
and the team for nearly 20
years of providing the opportunity to learn and perform
circus skills to our very fortunate children.
Of course, kids being kids,
thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always the chance some
of them will run away to join
a troupe of travelling accountSapoty Brook ants. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d better watch out for
Mullumbimby that.

that love is best expressed
through abuse? Join Suicide
Club Earth: no rush, one at
a time please, starting at the
equator.
Alternatively, you can help
make gas-fired power less attractive to investors by reducing daytime peak electricity
demand by investing in solar
power. In doing so you help
reduce the price of solar power
too!

Circus fun
I had a marvellous time at
Spaghetti Circusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show last
weekend. The talents, abilities
and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;have a goâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; attitude of the
performers made for a brilliant
show.

www.echo.net.au

Jen Jacobs

Mullumbimby

In his likeness
Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m an atheist but I needed to
write this to the churches and
to the politicians who make the
laws that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re expected to live

proved holiday lettingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, nor was
the vote 7â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1. What actually happened was that Cr Tabart had a
motion in the agenda ordering
staff to desist from enforcing
rural unauthorised rural dwellings until the state government
solves the affordable housing
problem. However the minutes
of the meeting show that he
never formally moved it, ie it
never came up for debate.
What happened instead
was that Cr Richardson, seconded by Cr Cameron, moved
to change Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s compliance priorities, by taking unapproved dwelling out of the
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;very high priorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; category.
Where it was to be put was not
specified. Picture then if you
will our beloved compliance
officer David Murray arriving at your front door with a
search warrant. Indignantly
you splutter that according to
The Echo he shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be doing
this. At which point he breaks
into a silly grin and says, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oh
weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not doing this out of any
kind of high priority type motive, only out of, you know,
a medium kind of priorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;,
upon which he barges onto
your property, with knowing
smirks from his henchmen. In

other words, business as usual,
sorry to say.
The other part of Cr Richardsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ill-conceived notion
was that action against holiday
lets â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;be continuedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and be put
in the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;very high priorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; category for 2012. What the twats
forgot is that the 2011 priorities
program already gave holiday
letting a special urgent mention â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the staff did absolutely nothing.
To complete this schemozzle
we had the inevitable contribution from the mayor that
Council solve one aspect of the
problem by writing a letter to
the government. Some landlords canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford safety and
environmental upgrades on
their accommodation, so Janâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
brilliant idea was that the state
government offer them interestfree loans. Mmm, I can just see
it now: a conservative government gives money to hippies
in the hills so that they might
undertake their illegal activities
more responsibly. Bewdy Jan.
The vote for this camel of
a resolution was in fact 8â&#x20AC;&#x201C;3.
Cr Tucker, faithful exponent
of unfettered holiday letting,
voted against, as did (surprise,
surprise) Cr Diane Woods and

by because I think they should
wake up to themselves.
If god made the earth and
all of its creatures surely god
canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t discriminate against the
marriage of gay people. Arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
we all made in his likeness, his
children, his creation?

active role in dunecare work.
We now have a working base
of over 30 members who take
part in fortnightly working
bees. This regular participation has been augmented by
secondary school classes and
land management trainees.
We would like to thank our
sponsors the Mullumbimby
Community Garden Inc, the
BSC, NRCMA, and the organic
farmers (bananas etc) for their
ongoing support and encouragement. Special thanks to our
patron Rose Wanchap, handson lantanaist, scientist Ellen
White, and professional bush
regenerator Nadia De Sousa for
sharing their knowledge, expertise and infectious enthusiasm.

Hannah Grace

Ocean Shores

Hoppers not copters
Inadvertently the Byron Shire
Chemical Free Landcare
Group which has been working on the dunes south of the
Brunswick Heads SLS Club
for the past one and half years
failed to get a mention in the
Dunecare Week credits. These
volunteers came about in response to aerial spraying and
the use of chemicals which precluded many from taking an

continued on page 18.
Markets policy letters
overleaf.

<echowebsection=Letters>

good ole shit-on-the-liver Patrick Morrisey, who daily reveals his resemblance to one
Ian Kingston.
PS: The dog Mitchell died
last week of cancer, a few days

after Council unanimously
voted to revoke the original
order declaring him dangerous. At least they got that right.
Fast Buck$

Notice Of Planning
Assessment
Commission
Public Meeting
Proposed Cultural Events Site at Yelgun
The proposed concept plan and stages 1 and 2 project applications
for the cultural events site at Yelgun have been referred to the Planning
Assessment Commission for determination, under the terms of the
Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s delegation.
For this proposal the Commission comprises Emeritus Professor
Kevin Sproats (chair) and Ms Gabrielle Kibble AO.
The applications and associated documents, including the
Department of Planning and Infrastructureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assessment report and
recommendation, are publicly available on the Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website
and via the Commission website www.pac.nsw.gov.au
Due to the level of public interest in the project, the Commission will
be meeting to hear submitterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s views on the Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assessment
report and recommendation, prior to determining the project.
The Commission meeting will be open to the public and scheduled
to commence at 9:00am, Wednesday, 1 February 2012 at the Byron
Bay Community Centre, 69 Jonson Street, Byron Bay, and continue
if required.
Those who wish to comment on the Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommendation
can register to speak at the Commission Meeting by contacting Mrs
Paula Poon before 4:00pm Friday, 20 January 2012.
Enquiries:

Please note that all documents provided to the Commission are
public documents and may be made publicly available on the
Commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website, unless you have clearly indicated that you
do not wish your submission to be made public. For submissions
made by individuals, the individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal contact details,
other than their name, will be removed from the submission
before it is published.

809816v2

Q Sat down to read The Echo
this morning. Pleasant surprise. A rare week without a
self-serving letter from Fast
Buck$. There is a God.
Love Byron. Moved here
five years ago. Love it. Not all
of it but nowhere else I would
rather be. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand the
constant moaning and bitching
in letters to The Echo, given the
many gifts of living here.
Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand Fast Buck$
at all. He isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t funny or eccentric, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a negative pest.
Loves playing the crowd with
populist inanities. Rarely even
a hint of a better idea. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
with the nom de plume, Mr
Buck$? Makes you look furtive and silly to me, not even
remotely intriguing.
Anyway, back to hypocrisy.
The Echo seems to be promoting a code of selective compliance when it comes to building
approvals and non-compliant
structures. 59 Shirley Street
holiday letting by stealth.
Shame, shame, plus, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
from Melbourne! Shame,
shame! (I actually agree this is
unacceptable.)
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hinterlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; properties just
a few kilometres away, initially
developed as single residences

beautiful Byron Bay and loving being here (after 15 years
sitting in traffic in Sydney!) I
recently attended a community
meeting regarding your (now
our) very popular Byron Bay
Markets which was chaired
by the very professional Kerry
Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien. I just want to make
the following three comments/
observations.
1. I would suggest that Council have not been pro-active
enough to prevent getting to
this stage of having to issue
public tenders. In other words
cost benefit analysis should
have been completed a long
time ago. I prepare such analysis at work regularly except
these may be in the millions of
dollars. But then again how can
you put a price on an autistic
child or special-needs person
whose only goal all week is to
help set up a stall at the markets. I suggest this is priceless.
Or the elderly lady/man who
has not spoken to anyone for a
week and knows she can have
a chat with certain stallholders.
I suggest this again is priceless.
2. Political members attending the meeting seemed unable
to think outside the box. Having said that I believe Kerry
Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien has that ability. What
do I mean? Because markets
are on Crown land this means
tendering process must occur.
Having come from Northern
Ireland we also have had problems with Crown land. Apart
from handing each stallholder
an Armalite and having a revolution or coercing the government into an Australian republic, which both are remedies to
the problem, I would suggest
the local Indigenous landowners would be glad to hold the
markets as long as their beautiful culture is recognised artistically/musically.
3. Finally after gaining an insight into local politics I would

suggest this is a cause well
worth fighting for but I feel
more can be done to protect
such an iconic entity as the Byron Bay Markets. Let me know
if you need any help.
Malachy (Mal) Owens

Byron Bay
Q I

am alarmed by the myths
and propaganda concerning the
draft council market policy. It
resembles less a debate than a
micro-managed propaganda/
scare campaign to maintain the
status quo. The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;policy crisisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is a
direct result of the greed of the
Community Centre in requesting an extra Byron market that
contravened the market policy.
It was this request (that needed approval from Crown lands
department) that brought legal
scrutiny of the policy, thus forcing the removal of anti-competitive conditions. Advice from
Brad Crispin (acting senior
manager Crown Lands North
Coast) indicates that the profits
from the market may be voluntarily given to charity but such a
provision cannot be mandated
in a tender. The scope for philanthropy is thus great.
The question we must ask is
whether the status quo is providing our community and the
stallholders with the best deal? I
propose that an alternative and
financially efficient management model would provide a
better outcome for both. Fifty
per cent of gross profit from the
market ($75,000) is absorbed by
wages yet the market manager
claims in an email the proceeds
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;go to the services we provide
for needy and vulnerable peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; when the emergency relief
program is 100 per cent funded
by government grant. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The market revenue does not pay the
mortgageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is another questionable claim that does not yield
to analysis.
The community needs to
ask whether the money gener-

The Echo
is different...

You may have read about the closure of APN newspapers the Daily
News in Murwillumbah, and the Coffs Coast Advocate.

THE TWEED

Unlike the Byron News, and the Lismore-based Northern Rivers Echo
that sold out to APN, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not part of the huge multinationalowned APN group.
The Echo has steadily become more popular over the years â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we now
distribute 33% more papers** each week than the Byron News.*
And distribution of our sister paper the Tweed Echo has also
increased since we started it over three years ago.*
Even our new online newspaper Echonetdaily is different. Unlike
other publications that just recycle their material on a website, we
email out the Echonetdaily so that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like a newspaper in your inbox
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; fresh news each day that has different content to our other titles.

NETDAILY
16 December 13, 2011 The Byron Shire Echo

We all do things differently here in Byron Shire, and we hope that
you will continue to support your Echo.
*These figures are audited by the Circulations Audit Board.
**The distribution of our papers is carbon neutral.
<echowebsection=Letters>

ated from stall fees is actually
being spent in our community
in the most efficient and beneficial way. Maintaining the status quo will guarantee stall fee
increases with no perceivable
added benefit to stallholders.
Study the facts and make an informed choice; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your market
and your future: www.byronbaycommunitymarket.com.
Duncan Shipley-Smith

Byron Bay
Q I went to the recent market meeting. I heard many
opinions and ideas about the
market. I heard serious questions around the advice and
interpretations of that advice.
I heard the whole thing could
be unnecessary as it is unclear
whether the state has demands
for change and what they are. I
left feeling that serious changes
are going to happen, and not
really knowing why or what to
expect.
My basic fear is that the Byron Bay Community Centre
would be severely damaged if
they lose the income from running the market. At best, BBCC
will have to bid up the money
paid to Council. Increases may
be absorbed by stallholders.
The BBCC may have a reduced
income. A reduced income
that goes back to our community: helping people in trouble
(battered women, the homeless, mentally challenged and
just plain folks that are doing
it tough).
Why?
So, now there has to be a
competition. Who sets the
rules?
Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a quote from the Draft
Market Plan No. 5.51, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;All Market rental income, generated by
Markets operated on Council
managed Crown Reserves, will
be used to fund long-term major maintenance and upgrade
costs of assets associated with
the respective Crown Reserve

on which the Markets are conducted, in accordance with any
adopted Plans of Management,
the Crown Lands Act 1989 and
Regulations.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
So, this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t money for the
general fund. It wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t build
roads, maintain the beaches,
or be used to pay for lawsuits.
Money raised goes directly
toward maintenance and improvements to the market
grounds. What are the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Plans
of Managementâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;? How much
money is needed to improve
market grounds and what is
the cost of maintenance? Work
backwards from those figures
and you can quickly determine
the minimum required tender.
No-one mentioned any
plans to change the market
grounds. If no change, then
set a fixed tender that covers
maintenance. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen 20
years of markets with fees collected. When I look at the market grounds I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see much
improvement.
My proposal is to scrap a
highest bidder scheme that
destabilises everyone. Instead,
I suggest Council set a fixedprice bid based on reasonable
estimates and expectations for
a the limited time markets use
the space.
A Fixed Price Tender would
radically change the notion of
a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;competitiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bid in a way that
matches the spirit of our community. Organisations would
still compete. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Competitiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
factors would be weighted in a
way that is more compassionate to our needs. Why not build
a competitive tender on factors such as community benefit
through profits returned to local charitable programs, being
a local organisation, experience running markets, standing in the local community?
That would be a competition
where we all win.
Mark Oliver

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<echowebsection=Byron Bay Ballooning>

The Byron Shire Echo December 13, 2011 17

Letters

The bits about Byron that suck

New work health and safety
laws in 2012
NSW is working towards new work health and safety
(WHS) laws to take effect from 1 January 2012.
The new work health and safety laws will replace the
occupational health and safety laws in NSW.
These new laws will be consistent across Australia
making it easier for you to operate in different parts of
the country.
While many parts of the new laws will remain the same
or similar to current arrangements, it is important that
businesses, industry and workers know what the
differences are.
WorkCover is here to help you get ready, providing
information, advice and regular updates.
For the latest on the new laws, what they mean for
your business and events in your area visit
workcover.nsw.gov.au/newlegislation2012

802737V3

For specific advice, call us on 13 10 50.

Having spent the last two years
travelling first Australia then
the world, I look back whimsically at Byron Bay and reflect
on the beautiful place and admit, I miss it. Most of it anyway. The beaches, the markets,
the community, most of the
weather…
I don’t miss the shitty parks.
There is not a tourist town in
Australia that does not have
a better main park. Not one.
Seriously. In a year travelling
Australia, Byron Bay beachfront park came last in terms
of amenities. Plenty of nontourist towns do as well. And
they all have skate parks.
I don’t miss the high rents.
A three-bedroom furnished
inner city apartment here in
Berlin city centre, with a view,
costs $AU250 a week.

I don’t miss the lack of public
transport. OK, not fair to compare BB to a large city, but Berlin compared to Sydney? It has
five times as many suburban
stations with an underground
that crisscrosses the city with a
train every three minutes. And
above-ground trains, trams
and buses. Sydney has one line,
choked roads.
I don’t miss the paid parking. OK, you do have to pay
sometimes; the most we have
paid is $2 an hour in central
Berlin (same as Byron Car
Park) and once we got a parking fine – $15. I am tempted
not to even bother paying for
parking any more since that’s
the fine amount.
I don’t miss the grocery prices. 500ml bottle of beer from
the supermarket? – 45 euro
cents. Broccoli 59 euro cents
a kilo, lamb chops 6.99 euros

a kilo, milk 60 euro cents a litre, nice large loaves of bread
79 cents. Even mangoes here
in winter are cheaper than in
Byron Bay in summer. Within
1km of our home are six competing supermarkets of varying
prices and quality so instead of
being held hostage by a duopoly, there is real competition.
I can fill a shopping trolley
for 70 euros. Seriously. Fill it.
Would have cost me over $300
in Byron Bay.
I don’t miss the high movie
prices. Friday night, one adult,
two kids 15 euros. Even the junk
at the counter is not overpriced.
I don’t miss the clothes and
shoes prices. New stylish winter boots, wool inside, leather
exterior, good quality soles 69
euros. I don’t miss the high
prices for electronics. I am
looking at my new 24 inch,
LED backlit screen which has

a TV tuner and speakers which
cost 155 euros.
Monthly gym membership
that allows me to go to any
one of 134 gyms in Germany,
20 euros a month. My unlimited download internet is $30
a month. And I get download
speed of 3gigps, about 8 times
faster than I got in Byron Bay.
Oh, there are some downsides. It’s cold for one, though
it’s kind of novel. There seems
to be an ice skating rink on
every city corner. Fuel is slightly more but the cars are more
fuel-efficient and the upside is
I can legally drive 300km/h on
the freeway if I want.
Yes, I miss Australia, Byron
Bay especially, but gee whiz, I
had not expected Berlin of all
places to be about three times
cheaper to live in.

continued from page 15

the first year of operation (over
a maximum of ten event days)’.
This is only for one year.
Then how about this as a
statement? ‘A single event of
30,000 patrons may be carried
out in perpetuity should the
proponent meet all KPIs (key
performance indicators) after
the first year of operation.
‘Should the proponent seek
to increase the size of events,
this will be at the discretion
of the Director-General following consideration of a KPI
Report, and any other matters
the Director-General considers
relevant.
‘The recommendation to increase the size of events of no
more than 5,000 patrons per
event, per calendar year will
ensure that any intensification
of site usage is gradual, with
sufficient time for monitoring
and reporting of any residual
impacts; and for the implementation of further management
measures.’
Council has no say over this
horrendous situation. And the
final blow of the sword to cut
off our heads is ‘The maximum
site usage will comprise four
major events, with the maximum sized event capped at
50,000 patrons.’

After the first year, then look
out, folks: every day when they
aren’t having major events they
can have a gig for 300 people.
I hope you get as angry as I
am as this is an invasion. If you
do nothing else before you set
out for your Christmas holidays
you must have a look at this recommendation and keep an eye
out for the PAC (Planning and
Assessment Panel) notification
of a public consultation meeting where you will have to book
to speak so you can have a say.
This is Byron Bay twice over in
the north of the Shire.

In its wake sandmining has
degraded hundred of miles
of coastal dunes in Australia
and continues unabated world
wide. It now remains this generation’s duty to give nature a
chance and continue this process of sustainable regeneration. Our kids are worth it.
The next working bee will
be Saturday January 7. Come
along for a day in the bush
down by the seaside.

The Biodiversity Fund

Terry Hamill

Brunswick Heads

Satellite city?
To all in the north of the Shire,
please for your own understanding of the North Byron Parklands recommendation from
the Dept of Planning go http://
majorprojects.planning.nsw.
gov.au/index.pl?action=view_
job&job_id=3210 and have a
look at the Satellite City that
the developers may be given
permission for.
If you think West Byron is an
overkill for traffic, etc, then here
is this in their own words. The
Department’s recommendation
for ‘the site to carry out three
major events of 30,000; 25,000;
and 15,000 patrons respectively
over a single calendar year for

Applications now open

Richard McLachlan

Berlin

Kathy Norley

South Golden Beach

Terrace developments
In response to tree lopper Ben
Finlayson’s response about the
fallen gum in Brunswick (Letters, December 6). Ben, you obviously can’t see the wood for
the trees. The real point that was
being made in Luis Feliu’s article is the ongoing destruction of
the sensitive foreshore environment in the beautiful Terrace
Reserve due to inappropriate
and unlawful development.
The Terrace Nature Reserve
was set aside for the protection
of native flora and fauna and
continued on page 20

for the enjoyment and use of
all over 100 years ago. Today,
North Coast Holiday Parks intends to develop 95 per cent of
it into high-density tourist accommodation, block residents’
access and in the process destroy what is left of its natural
attributes.
The Terrace Reserve is home
to what remains of an Endangered Ecological Community
(EEC) of Coastal Cypress Pines.
These Coastal Cypress Pine
communities are very rare and
are protected under the Threatened Species Conservation Act
1995. To clear the way for more
tourists and to allow large caravans and boat trailers into what
was once recreational parkland,
many of these magnificent and
endangered pines have been illegally cut down and all have
been virtually stripped bare by
cutting off all branches lower
than four metres.
Claims that the trees should
be cleared for the safety of tourists are ludicrous. The trees were
there way before any campers
were allowed into the reserve
and this is precisely why this
end of the reserve has never
been used as a designated tourist area.
Please, all concerned readers,
visit www.savebrunswickforeshore.com and go to the Environmental section and see for
yourself a documented record
of the ruthless environmental
destruction done to the historic
parkland and river bank. Better

still go for a walk through the
reserve and see the destruction
for yourself.
As a government appointee
North Coast Holiday Parks
thinks they can do as they
please, so while you’re on the
site sign the online petition to
let the minister know that this
Crown land is our land and
we won’t put up with its commercialisation and destruction.
Crown Land has strict legislation about environmental protection but again North Coast
holiday Parks totally ignores it.
Sean O’Meara

Brunswick Terrace
Action Group

Offended
The article in a recent edition
of The Echo proclaiming ‘a
chilled-out time for schoolies’
in the Bay was deeply offensive
to many of the residents of Byron Bay. The reporter did not
bother to interview any local
residents, and was obviously
unaware of the other articles
and letters in The Echo about
lack of affordable housing,
the increased police presence,
and the disturbance caused
to many residents by unruly
schoolies. It may have been a
chilled out time for schoolies,
but it certainly hasn’t been for
many locals.
Where were the Red Frogs
when residents were evicted
from their accommodation
so it could be rented at outrageous prices to schoolies?
Where were the Red Frogs

when locals had to clean up
their streets after rubbish bins
had been upended, when the
streets and properties were being vandalised; and where were
the Red Frogs when locals and
tourists alike were kept awake
by schoolies partying and
walking the streets intoxicated?
Mothering the schoolies?
It is apparent the intent is to
build ‘Schoolies’ in Byron Bay
into an event like that on the
Gold Coast. The article proclaims Byron Bay to be Australia’s second largest destination.
The invading Red Frogs (or is
that cane toads?) pumped up
by their ‘success’ with schoolies
on the Gold Coast, have this
year brought DJs with them.
What are we to expect next
year?
It seems The Hub is yet another cynical and anti-community initiative backed by the
Holiday Letting Organisation.
At least the police have remained responsive to the complaints from locals.

with the community and treating members of the public with
courtesy and respect. A friendly approach usually inspires a
friendly response.
Conversely, police officers
make their job harder when
they abuse their power and treat
the public with contempt. Such
an approach will create tension
and resentment in the community, resulting in distrust and
fear of police.
The behaviour of individual
officers is representative of the
practices and standards of the
police force in general. The philosophy and attitude of the leadership will guide the screening
of police practices and set the
standard for police behaviour.
The conduct of police in general can be positively influenced
by the involvement of the community, through giving voice to
the standards the community
expects from its police, as well
as through friendly and sincere
dialogue with police officers on
a personal level.

Yvonne Jessup

John Scrivener

for Enough is Enough

Main Arm

The police’s lot

No guarantee

The police have a difficult and
important job in our society.
They are required to deal with
unpleasant situations that the
rest of us prefer to avoid. Very
often, police work needs the
cooperation and support of the
public in order to be effective.
For these reasons, police officers can make their job easier
by cultivating friendly relations

Australian workers are currently being sold the idea that compulsory superannuation contributions paid by employers into
an employees superannuation
fund of choice are guaranteed
by the government.
Workers are also encouraged
by the government to make
additional contributions from
their wages with the incentive

So it appears that governmentguaranteed superannuation is
not guaranteed at all. In fact it
appears that it’s only real benefit
is a a tax-break for the wealthy.
Surprise, surprise.
Russell Thomas

Mullumbimby

Mysterious pay rise
What I don’t understand is how
the prime minister can give
herself and her cronies such a
massive pay rise when I sit here,
half way through my pension
fortnight, working out how to
turn vegetable broth into a meal
– ah, I might have some rice left.
I didn’t choose to go on a
pension and I didn’t choose to
be disabled. When I worked, I
worked long and hard. I paid
lots of taxes, I donated to charities and I supported the P&C at
my children’s school.
Later, I was a full time volunteer for 15 years, putting in up to
80 hours per week. I was, and
am, a good citizen.
Life changed, and I retrained
to re-enter the workforce. I was
looking forward to continuing a
comfortable, middle-class existence, but my health failed and
I ended up on a pension, for
which I am very grateful, pittance though it is.
What I would like Ms Gillard to explain is why she thinks
she is worth more money than
the ‘leader of the free world’.
After all, Obama’s still calling
the shots.
Moana Perrot

that the government will match
a certain amount of these extra
contributions.
Superannuation funds advertise their wares day and
night via television, radio and
print media. The warm and
fuzzy message is that workers
can look forward to a blissful
self-funded retirement with the
wonderful assurance of a government guarantee.
Just the words ‘Government
Guarantee’ should have triggered alarm bells in my brain
– ‘warning, warning, Will Robinson’ – as it appears that our
superannuation entitlements
may end up ‘lost in space’.
Although there are substantial fines for breaches of
superannuation laws, the government’s own mechanism
for recouping unpaid superannuation contributions, the
ATO (Australian Taxation
Office), states on its website
that ‘the ATO will rarely (if
ever) sue’ for the moneys to
be repaid. Legal websites I
have researched all imply that
civil or criminal prosecution
is fraught, indicating that such
action will be expensive and
success unlikely.
If an offending company declares bankruptcy and goes into
receivership, directors of the
company may become personally liable for unpaid contributions and their assets can be
taken to repay employees. I suspect this applies only if the assets
are in the directors’ names and
they actually own those assets.

<echowebsection=Articles>

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Comment

Get Echo news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au

Biodiversity through the proliferation of life
Geoff Dawe

There is a saying about not being able to see the forest for
the trees. The attempt at biodiversity as it is currently practised is something like that.
The ‘trees’ that block the view
are an endemic violence in the
consciousness of the whole of
humanity that has ‘civilised’,
and that can clearly be seen in
Arnold Toynbee’s monumental
1973 swan song, Mankind and
Mother Earth. It is subjugation
of the other that is humankind’s primary learning of the
responses of civilisation. Subjugation has been the foremost
attitude toward introduced
species. As a society, there is
not the noticing that so-called
noxious plants and animals are
nature diversifying.
Land is degraded from what
it was at first settlement. So is
air with climate change. It is
silly to expect plants and animals who are part of dynamic
rather than static ecosystems
to remain in the usual areas
as though the environment
has not changed. Life does not
stand still. Lebanese philosopher Kahlil Gibran would say
it does not tarry. It attempts
to take up positions wherever
environmental conditions are
right for it. Our job is not to act
as gatekeepers because we have
psyches of national boundaries
and passports, but to ensure
life is able to move to every
niche suitable for it.

Species thrive
The possums know this.
Some of them are in New Zealand. Eucalypts are not shy
either. Some of their species
thrive in Israel. The deliberate movement of all species
to where they will thrive puts
the pro-life back into proliferation (pro-life-ration). The sufficient return of carbon to the
soil where nature exhilarates in
rampancy depends on it. But
in order for this to happen human society needs to reorganise itself so that the effects of
rampancy reduce labour rather
than increase it and so that the
balance returns more to the natives.
Biodiversity was radically
reduced in Australia because
landclearing took place primarily for grain fields and
grazing. The CSIRO and the
University of Sydney have both
concluded that 92 per cent of
environmental degradation
in Australia is caused by ‘animal industries’. Evidence also
appears to be accumulating
corresponding to that that
excessive use of animal products also causes human body
degradation. Nutritionist Rozalind Gruben-Graham says
‘the cooking of food results
in the formation of numerous carcinogens, especially in
the case of fats’. She says that
when proteins are heated, ‘the
overall effect is a reduction in
www.echo.net.au

the oxygenation of ... cells and
a consequent environment for
cancer development’. Professor
Gruben-Graham has also said
that ‘there is a direct correlation between the consumption
of animal products and the
leaching of calcium from the
body’. In case there is wondering whether that does not just
include meat, but also dairy,
David Wolfe in his book, Eating for Beauty, reports that
‘a 12-year Harvard study of
78,000 women demonstrated
that those who drink cow’s
milk are more likely to have
osteoporosis and brittle bones’.
As far as wheat fields go,
the eating of grains as cooked
food, as well as all food cooked
‘above a certain temperature
(slightly above 200F)’ according to Wolfe, ‘causes a pathogenic response in the body
called leucocytosis whereby
white blood cells (leukocytes)
are actually used to digest
much as they would attack a
foreign substance. This statement has been confirmed in
hundreds of experiments and
is based on the research of the
Swiss scientist Paul Kouchakoff ’.

Effects of diet
People are generally uninformed of what science has
lately found about diet. At a
delicatessen the other day the
girl behind the counter was
glad to hear for example that
olives are one of the most alkaline of fruits and therefore
something of an antidote to
the unhealthy, mostly acidifying effects of animal products
and grains which are a lot of
the Australian diet. Of the people who read this, there will be
hardly anyone who will already
have known that about olives
and yet we are daily surrounded by a health crisis, and act as
though a closer inspection of
what we are eating is irrelevant
to it! Furthermore, olives are
a dry-climate plant, this is a
dry country and in relation to
the country’s size and aridity,
bugger-all have been planted.
A further travesty in diet education is that it is little known
that the diet pyramid where
grains have been allocated the
largest section on the bottom
is no longer correct. Vegetables

and fruit are now the largest
section yet there is no attempt
to change the orthodoxy of
grain predominance on the basis of what science has found.
Humankind’s greatest use of
science in the 21st century is toward knowledge that increases
the possibility of our merging
with other life rather than in
the invention of another technology that sets us apart. Dietscience provides knowledge
that enables merging but is
largely being ignored.

Procrastination
The many books on diet
and the apparent confusion is
not a record of the absence of
diet knowledge, but a record
of procrastination among people about food. Laurens Van
Der Post in Russia in 1963 saw
that at Russian mealtimes, because even in the modern period they had known times of
food scarcity, ‘No matter how
tempting, varied and abundant
the dish on the table, the hands
of the Russians present would
all first reach for bread.’
Food, like nurturing from
a mother, is a fundamental
emotional as well as physical
tie to survival. Most people
of our own culture suffer an
emotional hollow. Nineteenth
century American philosopher
Ralph Waldo Emerson recognised this when he wrote, ‘the
ruin or blank that we see when
we look at nature is our own
eye’. There is a vain attempt to
fill the ruin or blank within
with excessive sensory pleasure, especially that provided by
food. Since processed grains
and animal products are generally not suited to human diet
in the excessive quantities they
are now consumed, it is reasonable to presume they are
largely comfort foods, bringing
comfort to humans at the cost
of the comfort of other species.
The full cost of the emotional
hollow has been the destruction of human bodies and the
accompanying destruction of
habitat. The phrase ‘everything
is connected’ loses its triteness.
Inattention and inappropriateness of diet has reflected
as inattention to the fact that
landclearing was the major
cause of the reduced biodiversity of native species. Because

soil organic matter is depleting in Western culture in urban, rural and forested areas
through human activity, species living upon it naturally
readjust. There is no evidence
that when soil organic matter
levels and atmospheric conditions return to 1788 levels, and
humans make appropriate adjustments to their own lifestyle
rather than directly to the lives
of the other species, that there
will not be a predominance of
native vegetation over that introduced.

seeds, agriculture will make the
appropriate adjustments. We
will find then that most of it
is devoted to orchards or food
forests with accompanying
horticultural areas. Because
they provide tonnages of food
from comparatively smaller areas, land area required to feed
the population reduces. The
rest returns to habitat. Human
food choices is the main driver
of biodiversity. Feed oneself
with human food and one goes
a long way in ensuring wild nature is fed.
Biodiversity is not an issue
for focusing on the death of
some species, but on the life of
all species. It involves greater
noticing of the connectedness
of ecology such as soil, atmosphere, human diet and even
human emotional wellbeing.
In short, it requires a more holistic view.

The case for weeds
Weed advocate Peter Andrews, whose story was one
of the most popular presented
on the ABC’s Australian Story, was described by former
deputy prime minister John
Anderson: ‘Like so many
prophets, Peter Andrews was
not initially welcomed in his
own land – but it seems that
many people are now asking
why we didn’t listen to him
earlier.’ Peter’s view of the societal concern for the overrunning of native vegetation by
introduced, is that, ‘my own
experience... has been exactly
the opposite. Because native
plants are better adapted to
natural Australian conditions,
they will always win out over
introduced plants in the end
– as the casuarinas and river
oaks did over the willows at
(my farm) Tarwyn Park.’
Moreover, Toynbee has perceptively noted that with our
present game of pejoratively
labelling unwanted plants and
animals as weeds and vermin,
this human selection process
in place of natural selection
has actually ‘reduced the
number of surviving species’.
His view was a 1973 prescience
of Ahmed Djoghlaf ’s findings,
who as executive-secretary of
the UN’s convention of biological diversity said in 2010, ‘The
news is not good. We continue
to lose biodiversity at a rate
never before seen in history
– extinction rates may be up
to 1,000 times higher than the
historical background rate.’
If there is eating of healthy
human food, which is basically leafy greens in far greater
quantity than we are used to,
vegetables, fruits, nuts and

<echowebsection=Articles>

’s

Rusty

BYRON
GUIDE
M AG A Z I N E
2 0 1 2

Last ads NOW

[Phone]

6684 7390

[Mobile] 0428 847 390 [On Line] www.byron-bay-guide.com.au

The Byron Shire Echo December 13, 2011 21

Business & Finance

Advertising Feature

This no-nonsense feature highlights local businesses that can help you get ahead and achieve your ﬁnancial goals.

Piggy Banks

With their noses firmly in the trough at
present, the largest banks in the country are
yet to pass on the recent Reserve Bank 0.25
interest rate cut (at time of writing), 2 days
after the RBA announcement. My guess is
that they may cut rates before Santa arrives
by about 0.15. I hope they prove me wrong
and pass on the entire 0.25 before you read
this! Once one bank cuts rates, the others
usually follow the ﬁrst little piggy to market,
like a funny ‘follow the leader’ game. Not so
funny to those of us with mortgages. The
big four Australian banks are some of the
most proﬁtable in the world and while their
ratings were recently downgraded from AA
to AA- by Standard & Poors, they remain
in a group of very few banks globally in the
AA category. It is the ﬁrst time in 20 years
that their ratings have been downgraded, but
this was not as a result of changes to banking
practices. The downgrade reflects changes
to S&P’s ratings criteria in light of criticism
of some of their past favourable ratings of…
well, not so favourable products. Similar
to products sold to Byron Shire and many
other local councils (by non-local ﬁnancial
advisers) with a AA rating that in one instance,
according to the Byron council, produced a
total return of 81.80. A loss of 1,634,000
on a 2 million dollar outlay. Now that is a
spectacular investment!
Back to the banks: some of the big four have
openly stated that the ratings downgrade will
have no impact on funding costs. On top of this,
as a nation we are saving more because we are
all (generally speaking) freaked out by doom
and gloom media reporting which in turn has
helped reduce bank funding requirements
from approx 150bn in 2010 to an estimated
50bn. This has helped push the banks’ proﬁts
even higher. Westpac for instance, recorded a
net proﬁt of almost 7 billion, an increase of
10 on last year! Not bad during tough times,
hey! Those facts don’t sit too well when bank
reps moan about increased funding costs and
credit becoming scarce. Our ‘BS’ radars have
improved since the 80s!
Having said that, it is very easy to jump
on the bank-bashing wagon when times are
tough, so I should also congratulate them as
a whole for their proactive environmental
steps, sustainable initiatives and community
donations. Westpac, whom I picked on
earlier, tends to be a leader in this department
(correlated to proﬁts perhaps?). I recommend
22 December 13, 2011 The Byron Shire Echo

some speciﬁc bank products for the beneﬁt
of my clients, and yes, it is wonderful that
our banks are well regulated and compensate
shareholders with nice dividends and capital
growth forecasts. However, if they don’t pass
on interest rate cuts in light of their astonishing
economic performance while many businesses
and families are facing ﬁnancial heartache, it
will be seen as proﬁt gouging and arrogance
in my opinion – very out of touch with
community consensus. Just like the recent
30 salary increase for our ‘working families’
minded politicians!
PS. If you are not getting 4.3 pa interest
on your transaction account or 6.11 on your
cash savings, you should: 1) Not complain
about bank proﬁts; 2) Give me a call.
Simon Jones is a local ﬁnancial adviser and
director of Financial Sense Australia Pty Ltd, a
local company with no ownership or aﬃliation
with any bank or ﬁnancial institution. Phone
6687 6566. Australian Financial Services
Licence 340749.

With interest
rates as low as
5.99* don’t sit
back! Check
your ﬁnances
today!
Most Australian homeowners have a set-andforget attitude when it comes to their ﬁnances.
They get their home loan then they just make
their repayments each time they are due. They
do not bother to check if their loan is still
competitive or suited to their individual needs
until they are moving or looking at getting
some additional funds. Don’t let this be you.
Reevaluating your financial situation
can save you 100s on your monthly loan
repayments or 1,000s of dollars annually. I
personally have just swapped products for one
of my own loans for 280,000 and this will
save me 4,200 per annum^. As a mortgage
broker I am able to assess your current
situation and ﬁnd the most competitive loan
to suit your needs.

When is a good time to look at your
ﬁnances?
1. interest rate changes – LIKE RIGHT
NOW!
2. employment changes
3. ﬁnancial circumstances changing
4. lifestyle changes
5. family changes
6. at least every two years to ensure your
product still suits your situation.
Interest Rates have changed so now is the
perfect time to review your mortgage. If any
of the other situations ﬁt your circumstances
as well then you have double the reason to
give me call!
Appointments are FREE of charge and
available at a time and place that suits you!
Zain Peart – Credit Representative (374269)
Australian Loan Company
Australian Credit Licence – 377711
M: 0401 158 896
E: zain@zepﬁnance.com.au
*5.99 interest rate is 3-year fixed with
Macquarie comparison rate of 6.5pa.
^
Savings on my loan interest-only repayments
280,000 was at 7.49 (20,972 interest p.a) is
now on 5.99 (interest is 16,772 pa).

budget more eﬃciently. Global Travel Cards
with no load, reload or unload fees, that never
expire, are a great option here because you are
applying funds at the ﬂat rate without the fee
distorting the ﬁgure and you enjoy locked-in
fx when you travel.
If you’re up, up and away at Christmas time
we wish you safe travels, happy holidays and
an adventurous New Year.
Money matters – it’s yours!
Kylie Ryan-Milroy
Atlas Currency & Byron Foreign Exchange
AFSL  342627
1300 261 090
www.atlascurrency.com.au
Winner 2011 Import Export Awards in the
category of ‘Foreign Exchange Provider’

– it’s yours!

Recent media reports claim that employers
lack an understanding of people with
disability and exercise their prejudices by not
employing people with characteristics deemed
undesirable.
Earlier this month federal minister for
employment participation, Kate Ellis, released
results of a new Australian study claiming
employers continue to operate under the
misconception that people with disability will
be less productive.
Northern Rivers and Gold Coast businesses
are bucking the trend in droves as they
increase their demand for a talent pool that
has traditionally been overlooked.
Despite a tough economic climate,
vacancies exist throughout the region and
local employers are more than willing to cast
aside prejudice to embrace a valuable sector
of the labour market that is willing and able to
meet their needs.
We have canvassed a large number of
businesses in the last three months, of which
a staggering proportion had immediate
vacancies; but more importantly the majority
were open to employing as part of their team
a person with an injury, illness or disability.
What we now know is that we are in a
region full of savvy business operators who
have readily identiﬁed the value of tapping
into a non-traditional talent pool as a means
to sustaining their business into the future.
As a result, we have a number of vacancies
available and we are calling for expressions
of interest from people with disability
who are professional, tertiary and/or trade
qualiﬁed and who are ready to embrace local
employment opportunities.
Recognition is due the local business
community for their vision and for becoming
part of a local solution to the skills shortage
by partnering with us. Hopefully more
employers will follow the trend and reap the
rewards.
Expressions of interest may be registered
with Karen Daley at ON-Q Human Resources
on 1800 761 561.
Alec Morgan, Managing Director.

Do you know that
local employers
are bucking the
trend toward
employing people
Money matters with disabilities?
At time of writing it’s the day before data
releases out of Europe and China and the
market is wondering, as always, which way it
is going to go.
Australia is heavily exposed to China and
tomorrow’s meeting of European leaders has
been described as the ‘make or break’ for the
Euro.
What does this mean for the Aussie dollar?
I get asked daily: ‘What do you think it is
going to do?’ and invariably answer, ‘I couldn’t
say. I wish I knew, because I would be a
billionaire by now if I could read the market.
Like everyone else, we only have hindsight
when it comes to currency movement’.
FX providers, brokers and retailers are
legally prevented from offering financial
advice. Unlike other financial product, FX
is a live and wildly ﬂuctuating market where
the enormous amount of variables makes it a
‘horse race’ with umpteen starters.
Any retail provider who says ‘buy now’ or
‘wait’ is not being honest with you, as they
truly do not know what the market is likely
to do and should not represent as if they do.
The best advice you can hope for is the two
options I provide to my customers:
1. If you need to travel now, the rate is largely
irrelevant. You need it now, exchange it now.
But get same-day quotes from providers so at
least you are getting the best retail deal on that
given day. For example, you speciﬁcally ask
‘What will us2,000 cash cost me in total if
I buy it today?’ The answer you get should be
inclusive of fees and charges, if any, and in this
way you very clearly see the best deal, whoever
charges you the least.
2. If you aren’t travelling for a while start
‘stockpiling’ regularly. In this way you can
spread your rate risk so no matter what the
dollar ‘does’ you have been in the market at
the time. Over the next six months until your
trip if you buy 1,000 dollars a month you
have received both the up and the down in
the market and also managed your exchange

<echowebsection=Business and Finance>

www.echo.net.au

Christmas
Shopping
COLOURFUL CHRISTMAS AT
RED GINGER
Christmas is very
colourful this year
at the Red Ginger
stores in Byron Bay
and Bangalow. We
have a gorgeous range
of bright oilcloth
tablecloths from Mexico
for your summer
table, bright colourful
tinware jugs and mugs
from Kashmir, exotic
cushions,Â beautiful
ceramics from Vietnam and the gorgeous Samantha Robinson
range is exclusive to Red Ginger. There are also tagines and the
best recipe books from the Middle East to Japan.
Asian food is perfect summer food and we have all the
special Â ingredients you need to make delicious, tasty, spicy treats
for your Christmas table.
Our staff are here to help and to advise. Merry Christmas
from the RED GINGER team. Bangalow 6687 2808,
Byron 6680 9779.

BODIHEALTH ELECTRO
REGENESIS THERAPY
Introducing the BodiHealth Electroregenesis Therapy exclusively
at the newly named White Lotus Cleansing Clinic. Energy is the
most fundamental factor in all the myriad forms and functions of
life, and behind all forms of disease and dysfunction in the human
body lies a basic imbalance and functional disharmony within the
human energy system. The most effective way to cure the root cause
of disease is to restore balance and harmony to the whole system.
Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s precisely what â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;BodiHealthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; therapy does.
Also available at the clinic is naturopathic colonic
hydrotherapy, Kahuna bodywork, infrared sauna,
therapeutic detox programs and naturopathy
(specialising in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health and preconception care).
Sarah Foley, White Lotus Cleansing Clinic 6684 6124

FOLLOW THE LABEL
TRAIL
THE ART PARK Five of Byronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading clothing
brands â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Goddess of Babylon, Thrills, Tallow, Spell
and Art Park â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are collectively opening their doors
this Saturday for some serious Xmas bargains! Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
a whole new world of independent labels in the industrial estate
operating in the area known as The Indy Circle. They have joined
forces this summer and are taking on town! Take a trip out and
pick up some cool womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fashion plus books, bikes,
bikinis and much more.
Follow the Label Trail and find all five stores at 1 Acacia Street
and 11 Banksia Drive, Byron Bay Arts and Industrial Estate.
10-4 pm Saturday 17th.

BYRON PHOTO MAGIC
For all your Christmas photography needs Byron Photo
Magic, your Fujifilm Digital Store, has everything covered.
Large-format and canvas printing and photobooks are new
to the store and make great gift ideas. Of course we have
digital and film printing services, batteries, memory cards
for all types, camera bags to protect that new camera and a
wide range of many digital cameras to capture that special
moment including the full range of GoPro video cameras and
accessories.
Old video tapes to DVD are also now handled in store as well
as battery chargers, card readers, cables, USB drives, frames,
photo albums and a huge range of photographic accessories,
including tripods, filters, binoculars and even film! Passport
photos of all sizes are covered professionally with our store
studio, just call in and see Stephen, Karen and Kimberley, your
local Fuji photo lab since 1988 in The Plaza next to Woolies.
Shop 4 The Plaza, 108 Jonson St, phone 6685 5877.

SAFFRON HOME ESSENTIALSâ&#x20AC;Ś
Kitchens need to be well designed, well equipped, well organised.
They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to be boring! With brands such as KitchenAid,
Joseph Joseph, Scanpan, Lagiole, Le Chasseur, Shun, Global, Kuhn
Rikon, Maytime and Design House Stockholm Saffron home
essentials is here to help you avoid the beigeâ&#x20AC;Ś
Currently 20% off selected glassware including: Luigi Bormioli
lead free crystal, Bribe and stemware singles.
Shop locally, at Saffron home essentials. 6685 0236.

THE KIVA SPA
Kiva Spa Gift Vouchers will always put a smile on the faces of
your loved ones.
People love the Kiva because it nurtures the soul. The spas, sauna,
pool and body treatments invite you to melt away your tension,
to let go of your life for a while
and enter the magical realm of
Being.
As your body relaxes into
the oxygenated water and the
healing touch of massage,
your mind also unwinds and
becomes quieter. You gain
great perspective and insight
in those moments of bliss. You
leave feeling utterly restored
rejuvenated, at peace and in love
with life again.
6684 4811. www.thekivaspa.com

BANGALOW NEWS AGENCY
Did you know that the best little bookshop
in the Shire is right here at Bangalow
Newsagency? Why travel to the Gold
Coast to shop when we have a shire full of
wonderful gift shops? Have you checked
out Bangalow lately? Gift shops galore and
the best little bookshop you could wish for.

Bookworms and papermites have carefully
selected a range of Xmas gifts to suit every
member of the family: sports, music,
politicians, cooking, fairy tale classics, vintage,
teenage, pre-school and discerning fiction
for the literary minded. Our customers keep
telling us they love our selection so why not
come and check it out for yourself.

We are now closing down as our
lease is ending and you have until
Christmas 2011 to purchase that
fine piece of furniture, decorative
item, framed or unframed print,
homewares, orÂ quirky folk art
collectable.

EASTS MEATS MULLUMBIMBY
We have something for everyone over the Christmas New Year
festive season, smoked legs of ham, turkey, roast pork, organic
chicken and beef... BBQ packs for the more casual outdoor lunch
and dinners !
Open Christmas eve day, Saturday 24th till later. Pre-order,
get in early to avoid the rush call the boys on 6684 2137.

CREATIVE CHRISTMAS
EXTRAVAGANZA
Byron Art Supplies are having a Creative Christmas Extravaganza
with fantastic specials on both kidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s & adultâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art sets, brushes,
paints, pencil sets, craft items, easels & more. There are great
stocking filler ideas starting from $3.00 to something just that bit
special like our Schmincke Watercolour sets. Gift vouchers also
available.
ART GALLERY SALE until 16 December receive
20% â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 50% off gifts that will last a lifetime â&#x20AC;&#x201C;
Artist Jacqui Doran has a one-time
offer for you this Christmas, with
huge discounts on all original
paintings and limited edition
Giclee prints. Check out
Jacquiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work on line at www.
jacquidorangallery.com.
Christmas is the perfect
time to embrace your inner
creativity and discover your
artistic potential! Byron Art
Supplies would like to wish you all a huge Merry Christmas!
Byron Art Supplies, 3/93 Centennial Cct, A&I Estate 6680 8010.

MAKE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
A BREEZE
FOSTER Tracey has a bachelor degree in naturopathy, a diploma
in beauty therapy and has been massaging professionally for over
15 years. She can help you source the perfect gift for that
special someone in you life be it your mum,
dad, lover or best friend.
She buys, wraps and home-delivers presents
to make your loved one feel special, spoiled
and cherished. Choose from internationally
renowned beauty products, divine hampers
or gift vouchers for an array of deluxe
pampering treatments.

All stock is discounted, so come in
and get that special piece before
it is too late. See us at south end
Jonson Street (next Mitre 10).

If you any enquires or would like to discuss
the different options give Tracey a call
0413 432 584.

AMCAL PLAZA PHARMACY
Christmas is made easy at Amcal Plaza Pharmacy. We have a
fantastic Christmas catalogue out now full of gifts for any budget
including a huge range of fragrances, decorator gift ideas, pamper
packs, cool kids’ gifts and plenty of Christmas stocking fillers.

Also beautiful Clarins, Jurlique, Dr Lewinn’s, Grown and Revlon
gift sets. Or an Amcal gift card.
A gift voucher for our Bliss
beauty salon is also a great gift
idea to spoil someone with for
Christmas this year.
We also offer a free gift
wrapping service for all your
gifts purchased here at Amcal.
Phone 6685 7401.

CITRUS
For Christmas this year, why not let Citrus take the heat out of
your kitchen, so you can focus on gifts and champagne!
We have a menu full of both traditional and not-so-traditional
dishes for your table, be it at the beach, in your dining room or in
your backyard.
We have fingerfood, salads, desserts, sauces, meats and seafood,
and much more. We also do gorgeous gift hampers for that person
who’s hard to buy for, as well as wonderful foodie gift ideas.
Phone 6680 7040

The boutique also boasts an eclectic collection of vintage and
pre-loved fashion. The sisters are having their End Of Year Sale
so it’s the perfect opportunity find some beautiful adornments
in leather, feathers and tassels for yourself and grab a couple of
Christmas gifts as well. There’s gift-wrapping on offer as well as
beautiful Spell gift boxes as a special gift-wrapping option!

(next to IGA Shopping Plaza) 0407 693 500

Check their website and blog
at www.spelldesigns.com.

BYRON STAND UP PADDLE
Keep healthy and active this festive season by joining us on one
of our tours starting from $60 with fresh fruit and refreshments
provided. Stand up paddle is fun and easy, and a great way to feel
good about yourself.
Byron Stand Up Paddle is locally owned and run by a passionate
SUPer who is determined to share the many benefits of this
sport with the
community,
so come and
experience
the Northern
Rivers
from a new
perspective, or
give the gift of
fun and fitness
with one of our
gift vouchers.
Private tuition
available.
Call Elyse on
0434 250 830.

Ar T

SPELL HOLIDAY SALE
Hidden amongst the galleries and artists. studios of Byron’s
Arts & Industry Park, and only a short 3-minute drive from
town centre, Spell is a veritable bohemian wonderland of Native
American inspired jewellery and adornments, fashion and
footwear, designed and hand-crafted by local sisters Elizabeth and
Isabella Briedis.

BIBBAT &
BABBAT
Bibbat & Babbat Wooden
Toys specialise in quality,
affordable WOODEN TOYS,
bringing you
wooden toys that
delight as well as
educate.
We are a
small family
run business
specialising in delightful, affordable, quality wooden
toys for children of all ages. We hand-pick all our toys
to offer you non-toxic colour and fun.
A couple of our favourites are the Pirate Boat for $60
and the Clown & Princess Sting Puppets at $24.00
each. We also have king, witch and fairy puppets
Available at Bibbat and Babbat Wooden Toys.
2/12 Bayshore Dr (next to IGA carpark).
0407 693 500. www.bandbtoys.co.au.

WHAT’S
CIRCUS ARTS AND SPAGHETTI CIRCUS
PRESENTS ‘JUST KIDS’ – A COLLECTIVE
CIRCUS CABARET
Not everything in life has to be a competition and that is exactly
what Spaghetti Circus and Circus Arts wanted to celebrate
when they decided to create ‘Just Kids’.
‘Just Kids’ is a collective circus cabaret showcasing the best of
the Northern Rivers youth circus talent. This lively combined
cast of 30 kids, aged 10–16 years, have been working hard all
year to perfect their impressive tricks and they can’t wait to
show them off as well as to create some group acts with their
newfound circus friends.
‘Circus Arts and Spaghetti have existed side by side in the
community over the past ﬁve years and have always had a great
relationship. We decided it was time to join forces and show
the community that circus is an inclusive and supportive activity
and that kids can achieve things beyond their wildest dreams at
both schools’ said Circus Arts head trainer and co-director Tanya
Bilaniwskyj.
The show will be a fabulous feast of energetic circus
entertainment including cloudswing, triple trapeze, Spanish
web, swinging trapeze, contortion, acrobatics, teeterboard,
trampoline, chair handstand, duo silks, hula hoops and pitching.
A line-up sure to keep the audience on the edge of their seats!
Just Kids is playing at the Byron Entertainment Centre
Friday 16 December at 7pm and Saturday 17 December at
2pm and 7pm. Bookings on 6685 6566 / 6684 3038.

UNDER YOUR BONNET
Ladies of the Northern Rivers: Would you know how to change
your ﬂat tyre if you were out on one of our roads, alone, with
no phone reception? Would you know how to change your
windscreen wiper blades when they get so blunt that they
leave streaks across your windscreen? Do you know what to
do if your oil light comes on? If you answered ‘no’ to these
questions, then an Under Your Bonnet workshop is for you.
Learn these skills and much more and become empowered
around your car. The cost is $80 for a 2½ hour workshop.
Vouchers available for a practical Christmas gift.
Phone Angela 0414 719 680 or ﬁnd us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/UnderYourBonnet.

Lamps, mirrors, cushions and decor offer an easy way to add
style to any room. Check out the New Improved Lounge Room
and take advantage of the 20% sale this month! As always
prices are fantastic, offering great value for all Byron locals.
It is a great local shop for Christmas shopping at 1/2
Tasman Way in the Arts/ Ind Estate.

BAMLOK BAMBOO – SOLID STRANDWOVEN GLUELESS FLOOR SYSTEM NOW
WITH WAX EDGE SEALING
BAMLOK Solid Strand Glue-less Floor system has exempliﬁed the
versatility of bamboo as a genuine high quality ﬂooring product.
The patented glueless system ensures simplicity of installation
whilst the high-grade solid strand-woven construction ensures
the longevity of the product for many years.
Only the highest grade of hot-press strand-woven bamboo is
used. A Treffert ﬁnish is speciﬁed and at nine coats thoroughly
earns its 25-year warranty. The boards themselves also easily
pass the strictest E 0 standard for formaldehyde emission and
off-gassing and have a lifetime manufacturer’s warranty. The
drop-and-lock system ensure a guaranteed glueless installation
system further reducing any off-gassing usual in glue-down
ﬂoors. We also offer a choice of beautiful matte and gloss
ﬁnishes with full WAX EDGE SEALING.
The recent introduction of the full 4-sided Wax Edge Seal
improves the moisture integrity of joins to reduce the likelihood
of damage. Bamlok is unique in the market place with this
comprehensive system.
Phone us on 02 6672 1493 or visit us: Hutchisons
Murwillumbah, 63 Wollumbin St, Murwillumbah.

HOW TO DE-CLOG DRAIN PIPES – THE
EASY WAY

Don’t use guesswork when it comes to your blocked drain.
A gurgling toilet or slow sink can soon turn into an all-day
backyard exploration mission! But your plumber doesn’t have to
spend all day digging up your beautiful yard and turning it into
a messy mud pit just to ﬁnd the pesky problem.
There’s a better way to get your toilet ﬂushing again. A special
camera and high-pressure cleaner speciﬁcally designed for your
pipes can save both time and money. A camera is sent down
the pipe to pinpoint the problem; the pipe is then cleaned
THE LOUNGE ROOM
without digging up the pipe.
Call us on 6677 0004 for more info or go to
The Lounge has been re-stocked this week just in time for
Christmas: two containers full of funky new furniture and decor. www.tapking.com.au.
They have expanded their art section to include more than a
ZBOX
hundred new paintings all at very affordable prices as well as
outdoor rattan settings and sun lounges. While the original
Small bicycle motors have provided cheap transport since
cedar wood furniture has been restocked they also now stock a
the 1800s. With rising fuel prices and a push for greener
beautiful range of reclaimed and recycled teak furniture which
commuting, ﬁtting small motors to pushbikes has seen a
all has unique and distinct character.
resurgence.

BAMLOK GLUE-LESS
FLOORING
LATEST INNOVATIVE ADVANCE

✓ Do you know where your dipstick is?
✓ Can you change a tyre?
✓ Can you jump start your car?

The BAMLOK Glue-less
ﬂooring system now incorporates
a full WAX EDGE SEAL to
improve the ﬁt of all joins
and improve and reinforce
the integrity of the top edge
moisture seal. Spillages on the
ﬂoor will be even less likely to
penetrate between the joins to
cause damage.
Bamlok ﬂooring is available in
a semi gloss ﬁnish or a satin
ﬁnish.
Contact us now for more details.

An hŶĚĞƌzŽƵƌŽŶŶĞƚworkshop teaches women to be more conĮdent and
empowered around their car. The course is designed and run by a woman
especially for women and taught in a fun, friendly and non-threatening
environment. Some topics included in the workshop are:
✓ Checking oil levels and adding oil
✓ Checking your radiator for coolant
✓ Keeping the baƩery clean and healthy
✓ Knowing how to check tyre pressure and change a tyre
✓ Changing your windscreen wiper blades
✓ Easy ways to keep your car clean
✓ Basic items to keep at home and in your car
No special skills or prior knowledge are required – just bring your car and a
sense of humour. An hŶĚĞƌzŽƵƌŽŶŶĞƚ workshop costs $80, runs for about
two and a half hours and includes notes. For more informaƟon or to book a
place at one of our workshops, phone Angela on 0414 719 680.

www.facebook.com/UnderYourBonnet
www.echo.net.au

NEW
Motors are slower than cars, however, ﬁtting engines is
becoming popular with riders who have a short regular
commute, have week or achy legs, or simply enjoy cycling
without getting hot and bothered.
Despite protests from enthusiasts, state authorities want to
impose the most severe restrictions of any westernised country.
Luckily, ZBox, Australia’s largest supplier of quality pushbike
engines, has teamed with Mullumbimby engineering experts
“Power ‘n’ Pedal” developing a restrictor system limiting the
power of motors to 200 Watts.
Kylie from ZBox said, “Power‘n’Pedal have created a fantastic
engine. It feels almost as powerful as a regular 48cc engine
although it stops pulling once you reach 25km/h. They are
incredibly fuel efﬁcient travelling over 100km/h on 1 litre of fuel.
Zbox supply 48cc & 66cc engine kits, spares and 66cc
performance parts and can be contacted on 07 5592 5660
or www.zbox.com.au

CITRUS GEMS
We’re all in a tizz at Eden at Byron, because we’ve just received
our very ﬁrst delivery of ‘Citrus Gems’, a new
range of native limes. These
plants are tolerant of a
range of conditions,
making them ideal
for the home
garden. They
are grafted
on to citrus
rootstock, to
ensure plant
health, vigour,
and abundant
fruiting from an
early age.
‘Sunrise Lime’ is a
cross between a ﬁnger
lime and a calamondin. It produces
elegant, sweet, pear-shaped golden fruit which can be eaten
whole. It fruits in winter.
‘Outback Desert Lime’ has masses of sweet, tangy grape-sized
fruit with very thin skin. Macerate them in sugar syrup, or just
eat them whole.
‘Red Centre Lime’ is a cross between a ﬁnger lime and a
Rangpur lime. The fruit are rich red, with red pulp and gorgeous
pink juice.
‘Rainforest Pearl’ has been around for a while, and its ﬁngersized fruit contain masses of lime pearls, which are just
sensational in drinks, salads and desserts.
These highly desirable trees are hardy, easy to care for, and can
be grown in pots or garden beds. And at this time of year, they
make a superb gift.
Eden at Byron 6685 6874

ARE YOU TIRED OF GETTING RIPPED
OFF AT THE PETROL PUMP?
What if there were a product that could lower vehicle emissions
by as much as 75 per cent, improve performance and power
of your engine, extend the longevity of your second-largest
investment, was an octane booster (no need for high-octane
fuel)... and did this all virtually FREE.

CATALOGUE SALE
NOW ON
Organic
Sugar Cane
Mulch
3 for

This is a game changer – a ﬁrst-to-market product that will
revolutionise the industry... introducing Envirotabs!
The many beneﬁts of putting a tablet in your fuel tank just
before you ﬁll up:
UÊ removes hard carbon deposits and inhibits deposit formation
UÊ decreases fuel consumption by up to 30% + reduces
emissions greatly
UÊ exhaust will be cooler
UÊ extends oil life
UÊ extends life of engine
UÊ no need for higher-octane fuel
UÊ reduces knocking, pinging and dieseling
UÊ inhibits corrosion.
UÊ 100% money back guarantee – at last a product that does
what is says when used right!
UÊ Won 1973 Nobel Prize for science & chemistry
Envirotabs were originally developed as a result of
work on experimental burn-rate modiﬁers for rocket
propellant systems used in the US Army more than 40
years ago. Greenfoot is partnered with a technically
advanced manufacturer whose scientists bring with
them many years of research and manufacturing
experience.Their patent brings this proprietary
technology to a whole new level.

$30
OPEN 7 DAYS 6685 6874

140 Bangalow Rd, Byron Bay

What else is possible?

Envirotabs are unique on so many levels, can be used
with petrol, ethanol, diesel, bio-diesel and any mix of
hydrocarbon fuels. With so many diseases linked to the
respiratory system this is ideal for cleaner air.
Ph: 0400 020 059
www.greenfootglobal.com/boutros.

Jan Terkelsen
Coach/Speaker
Specialising in:
Mental and physical wellbeing
Business and career

0425 795 938

Tip of the week:

about
ut what you do, it cares
Your soul doesn’t care abo
you do.
how you feel about what
and
nces, people, ﬁlms, books
erie
exp
Start to notice what
in
and
...
t
ligh
of
l
ful
, grateful,
food make you feel joyous
that.
every 24 hour period, do
h your
replay that feeling throug
Notice how you feel and
y you get
wa
t
Tha
y.
log
sio
phy
r
you
body so it is ingrained in
more bang for your buck.

WHAT ELSE IS
POSSIBLE?
That’s what a great coach asks
of their clients. I work with
people who are ready to make
some signiﬁcant changes in
their life. I am an expert in
developing and supporting
people with personal mind /
body strategies.
It could be weight release,
conﬁdence, negative selfbelief, better relationships. If

Now you can ﬁght
back and spend
less on fuel and
help clean up the
environment
INTRODUCING:

you have a goal and have made the decision to move forward
in some aspect of your life, call me.
There are three stages to change: 1. Awareness; 2. Acceptance;
3. Action. What can you do today that will bring you closer to
what you intend?
Jan Terkelsen
0425 7945 938

CHOICES
The choices are endless at Choices, the new name under which
local owners Chris and Sharon Wallace are now operating.
For those wishing to pursue Choices on line go to www.
choiceﬂooring.com.au, or call into our showroom at 12/70
Centennial Circuit in Byron Arts and Industry Estate – you can’t
miss the new signage!
Chris, Sharon and staff wish all their customers a happy and
safe festive season and look forward to exciting choices in
2012.
Phone 6685 5503.

BYRON MUSIC
For 26 years, Byron Music has been a mainstay of the local
music scene. The gift of a musical instrument can be the start
of a lifetime of enjoyment. Great gift ideas under $30. Ukuleles,
guitar straps, stands, cables, percussion, electronic tuners,
drumsticks and accessories, music books and much more.
Valencia guitars ¼, ½, ¾ and full size – from only $69 including
four years’ warranty and free instructional DVD. Quality guitars,
perfect for the beginner. Byron Music are ukulele specialists.
Come in and grab a copy of our Music Direct and Yamaha
catalogues for more gift ideas. We’ll strive to match any online
price so let us make Christmas shopping easy for you.
Byron Music, Shops 1 & 2, South Plaza, Jonson Street
Byron Bay, phone 6685 7333.

BE WAXED AND TANNED
Be waxed and tanned has some exciting things to come in
the new year. Firstly we will be introducing eyelash perming.
Eyelash perming is a semi-permanent method of curling your
lashes. Curled lashes will enhance the appearance of your eyes
and normally lasts between four and six weeks. Add a lash tint
and you can throw away your mascara and curler over summer.
Every time you come into the salon in December you go in the
draw and win the treatment you had for three months.
Call or text 0434 522 240

HAPPY DAYS 2012 – SURF MEETS ART,
TRAVEL AND SUSTAINABILITY
Looking for a fun diary? With art, photography and free space
to write and draw… Made locally and sustainably?
Check out the Happy Days Diary 2012, a weekly planner
brimming with surf and street art, surf photography and
other surf/travel related info, quotes, stories on the marine
environment, and much more.
Created by two local ladies, the Happy Days Diary 2012 features
local and international artists and photographers such as Ted
Grambeau, James McMillan, Craig Parry and Alexander Frings,
to name a few.
Happy Days 2012 is available onlinewww.happydaysdiary.com
or in select book, surf and eco shops.
For your chance to win a copy please email your name
and address with your favourite quote to carmeni@echo.
net.au with subject header ‘Happy Days 2012’.

HiP CARAVANS

BODYPEACE BAMBOO
CLOTHING
Bamboo is grown naturally and
produces even more oxygen than
trees, making bamboo clothing
the environmentally conscious
choice for our future.
The Bodypeace Bamboo
Collection is the epitome of
elegant simplicity. Comfortable,
timeless and practical, the clothing
can be dressed up with a scarf,
jewellery and heels or kept natural,
simple and relaxed.
Bamboo clothing feels silky and drapes
beautifully. It keeps you cool in summer and warm in winter,

At last Byron has its own funky caravan
hire company. HiP Caravan hire caters
to the discerning traveller with
a taste for luxury. If you’ve had
enough of roughing it camping,
then a HiP van will give you that
holiday adventure, while offering
you all the comforts of home.
With an abundant list of standard
inclusions, all you need think
about is what to wear and what
to eat. This is holidaying made simple,
chic, civilised and fun. Become part of the
new generation of Glampers – hire from
HiP.
Call 1800 711 007 www.hipcaravanhire.com.au.

to stay true to our ethic of being the instigators of
piratical riffing, sweaty good times!
Pirates have really come into their own lately. What
appeals to the band about such a rascally lot? Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
something about the lawlessness, mixed with the
egalitarian democracy that existed in the golden age of
buccaneers, that has influenced the band. All decisions
Reminiscent of 20s Paris Bohemia transported to a
aboard ship had to be made unanimously, except in
Romanian tavern and then set adrift on the high seas.
battle, when the Captain called the shots. Only thing is
Their original blend of music is strongly influenced by
weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a band ofÂ Captains!
the music of eastern Europe, Greece, France and Spain as
What brings you to our northern climes? This will be
well as hip hop and hobo jazz.
our third trip up this year, touring at the beginning of the
Their new EP The Cat â&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Fiddle is a collection of musical
year, recording in Byron over winter, and this tour, as well
vignettes from a realm inhabited by back-alley gangster two years previously doing the east coast tour, so we like
felines, femmes fatales, and silver moon maidens, with a returning to our favourite venues and catching up with
soundtrack somewhere between a Chicago speakeasy, a people. This time weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re coming up flogging our new EP
Hungarian hoedown, and a Halloween party at a south
The Cat â&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Fiddle, and getting that out there, as well as
seas pirate haven.
surfing, and eating mangoes!
How does a seven-piece vaudeville/cabaret/pirate/
Complete this sentence: The cat and the fiddle
rock band come into being? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a long and
wentâ&#x20AC;ŚOn tour in a beautiful old silver Volvo, he had
organic process, involving an egg on a mountaintop,
plenty of fun, with nine gallons oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rum, and eight other
several thousand gallons of coffee, and a burning desire nefarious hobosâ&#x20AC;Ś

THE â&#x20AC;&#x2122;SKALLIONS HAVE ENTERTAINED
AUDIENCES WORLDWIDE OVER HALF
A DECADE, WITH THEIR UNIQUE
CONCOCTION OF VAUDEVILLEAN,
CABARET, JUNKYARD GYPSY BLUES.

In the Mick of Time
BEST KNOWN FOR HIS ROLE IN THE REMAINS,
MICK DALEY IS PLAYING SUNDAY AT
GREENHILLS ON TWEED.
Mick, what to you is the most important aspect of
good songwriting? Good songwriting comes from
solid imagination wed to an eye for detail and a sense
of humour. The popular misconception of Nick Cave is
the gloomy gothic doomsayer, but if you listen to his
stuff, much of it is actually hilarious. Crazed, literate
and highly worked, but the spark is a salacious wit.
Dylan, Cohen, Waits, PJ Harveyâ&#x20AC;Ś thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s this common
theme of large ideas and drama, but at the core is a
wry humour and a scornful disregard of convention.
Fearlessness and wit are some of the key ingredients.
What are the songs that move you most? For those
reasons itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smart, considered songs written by witty,
erudite people. The best writers really know their stuff;
theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve read everything from the Bible to Kafka, and
they bring this worldly knowledge and wit to their stuff.
If I hear a big brawling dirge by Dylan or Cave that has
one line that makes me chortle, that moves me. That
and a dab hand at alchemy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; putting words to tunes,
managing to play it.
What is the song that you have heard and thought,
damn I wish Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d written that? Probably Papa Wont
Leave Ya Henry, by Cave. A great rollicking narrative
with razor-sharp phrases and an enthralling, intense
soundtrack.
Where do you find the stories and narratives for
songwritingâ&#x20AC;Ś do they just happen to you or do
you eavesdrop? I go out of my way to find stories that
move me â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m part of a mob called the Lonely Horse
Band. We travel to one-horse towns, set up camp and
settle down to finding the unique stories that made
that town. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve written three albums based around
these weird, eclectic towns with a history youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never
know about unless you took the time to go there. Good
songs can spill out of the void and be finished in five
minutes. Otherwise they can take years to be done
right â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but working hard at them always pays off.
Tell me a little about the outfit that Â you will be
playing with at the Greenhills on Tweed gig. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll
be just me and Nigel Ison, a great fingerpicker from
Lismore. Some local types from Murâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;bah will no doubt
join us though, hunting for free beer.
1pmâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;4pm, $10 entry; kids are free.

As musicians, do you consider yourselves well
travelled when tasked with the job of taking us on
a journey through â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Chicago speakeasies, Hungarian
hoedowns, and south-seas Halloween partiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;? Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll
definitely try our utmost, I swear this by the boiling
blood that runs through our black hearts, wot say ye!
Friday at Coorabell Hall with special guest Ivy Lucille.
DoorsÂ 7PM / Show 8PM. TIX: $17 PRE / $20 at the
door. Visit www.kupromotions.com.au.

Sunday Safari
IT’S ONLY BEEN THREE WEEKS BUT
SUNDAY SAFARI IS BACK AGAIN WITH
A BRAND NEW CAST OF MUSICAL
TALENTS. PRESENTED BY HARVEST
PROMOTIONS, BYRON BAY BUDDHA
BAR WILL AGAIN PLAY HOST TO THE
EVER-SO-POPULAR MIAMI HORROR
DJS, AS WELL AS CLASSIC ALL-ROUNDER
SAMPOLOGY AND ALSO QUEENSLAND
NATIVES DUNE RATS.
With their debut album Illumination well and truly setting the bar
for like-minded performers, Miami Horror will be showcasing their
mixing talents as part of an exclusive DJ set through the likes of
producer Ben Plant.
Hailing from Melbourne, Plant is the cornerstone of Miami Horror.
The electronic young gun kick-started Miami Horror out of a love of
Roland keyboards and French house, landing himself on Pitchfork’s
hot list overnight and copping a barrage of high-profile remix
requests from the likes of Datarock, PNAU and The Presets.
Next, as part of his ‘Hell on Wheels’ tour (and to promote his
latest single of the same name), Byron favourite Sampology will
be gracing the outdoor garden setting with his Audio Visual DJ
performance. His Super Visual performances have garnered much
attention from around the world from esteemed colleagues and
excited punters alike. The technical aspect to his Super Visual shows
is impressive, as he madly manipulates video via two turntables
using his special Rane mixer and Serato, as well as live-triggering
custom animations via his drum machine. But it’s Sampology’s
cheeky sense of humour, seasoning exerpts from film and TV
shows, filmclips, YouTube clips and vintage VHS finds that takes
your ordinary club night and turns it into a stupidly exciting and
crazy fun visual mash-up. As a DJ, a VDJ and Producer, the oneman show will be touring throughout Australia and New Zealand
providing fans with the ultimate collaborative experience. Finishing
the night are the Dune Rats, who were kind enough to answer a
few questions.
Your second EP Social Atoms has been out for a couple of
months now. What has the response been like from your fans
(from what I’ve read, it’s quite a success)? The response has been
pretty amazing so far; pretty much exceeded all expectations we
ever had for this band so I suppose anything else is a bonus. We’ve
received a couple of harsh comments from some shit-dicks but it’s
all good!
As an unsigned band, how difficult has it been for you guys
to make your way through the music industry? We’ve found it
much easier being unsigned and controlling everything ourselves.
We’ve received a bit of interest from labels/ managers etc… just
nothing that we’re 100 per cent set on.
How has the past year tracked for you guys; do you feel you’re
developing as a local band? The past year has track well for us. It’s
been the only year we’ve existed so comparing now since when we
started I think it’s all coming along.
The people of Byron Bay I know are ecstatic about your
forthcoming performance at the Buddha Bar. Have you guys
done many local shows there before, and what’s the response
been like? Pretty pumped some people in Byron are getting keen!
We’ve only played there twice: one was a house party and the other
was an EP launch. The crowds have been small but loud, which is
always good!
Sunday from 3pm until 10pm – save the date. Drink specials
from 4pm until 6pm: $10 jugs of beer and sangria, $8 mojitos
and piña coladas. Tickets for Sunday Safari are $20 and are on
sale now from www.moshtix.com or at the Byron Brewery.

Bluesfest gets The
Chisel!

live

For Folk Sake

music

The inaugural ‘For Folk Sake’ evening kicks
off at the Rails on Wednesday, featuring
a stripped-back and intimate insight into
the folk songwriting of three musical
artists. The first will present the emotional
sensibility of Luke Yeaman, the honest
punch of Tim Stokes and the dynamic
touch of Greg Kew – all respected local
artists who have performed collectively
over a thousand gigs – will come together
for this showcase. It’s a busy time of year;
this is a good chance to take a break from
the chaos and bask in the simple brilliance
of acoustic music. 7pm.

One of Australia’s most iconic bands,
Cold Chisel, are the latest headline to
be announced for the Bluesfest 2012
program. Booked to close the show on
Thursday 5 April, the band is sure to draw
some big numbers with their current tour
drawing 300,000 bands over just 36 shows.
Kathy McCabe of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph
said, ‘Cold Chisel restore your musical soul
on their Light The Nitro tour and reaffirm
the power of music to not only define
a culture but unify a nation’s identity’.
Cameron Adams of Melbourne’s Herald Sun
agreed: ‘Cold Chisel remind you of the lifeaffirming power of a truly great live band.
Last night, Rod Laver Arena was wall-towall smiling faces, beaming with sheer joy’.
After performing to an audience of two
Meanwhile, Graham Reid of the New Zealand
billion people at the closing of the Sydney
Herald wrote: ‘Cold Chisel make raucous
Olympics in 2000 Phil Emmanuel has
bar-room rock’n’roll translate into an arena
toured Asia, Europe and the US several
with thrilling emotional impact’. In addition
times with rave reviews.
to performing classics like Forever
Phil has now emerged from his selfNow, Khe Sanh and When The War Is
imposed semi-retirement of recent
Over, this special Bluesfest appearance
years and has had huge success touring
will also see Cold Chisel premiere new
nationally with the Brothers in Arms tour
songs from their forthcoming album.
2010 (Phil playing the music of Dire Straits
The as-yet-untitled collection of new
Mark Knopfler) and the Emmanuel Brothers
tunes was recorded over the last two
50 Anniversary Tour 2010/2011 with brother
years – partly with original drummer
Tommy, all shows on both tours being sold
Steve Prestwich and partly with new
out. Phil has combined his deep respect of
drummer Charley Drayton. Thursday
the Shadows with the incredible popularity
single-day Earlybird ticket: $119
and guitar virtuosity of the Dire Straits into
Season & 3-day tickets also available!
one show played as only Phil can.
Artists already announced for 2012
The show is split into two parts: the first
ANDREA SOLER AT THE MULLUMBIMBY BOWLO
include: Crosby Stills & Nash – ROGER
mainly medleys of the most popular
BAND
5-PIECE
HER
WITH
AY
THURSD
ON
DALTREY performs THE WHO’S TOMMY
Shadows songs such as Fingle Bunt, Atlantis,
and more – Earth Wind & Fire – The
Apache, Wonderful Land… the list goes on.
Pogues – The Specials – John Butler Trio
The second, the most popular music of the
– My Morning Jacket – YES – Buddy Guy –
Dire
Straits
with all the classics such as Sultans of
Maceo Parker – Lucinda Williams – G3 feat:
Swing, Lady Writer, Down to the Waterline, Money for
Joe Satriani, Steve Vai & Steve Lukather –
Nothing, Romeo and Juliet to name a few. Catch this
Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot! – John Hiatt
very special show at the Mullumbimby Bowlo on
& The Combo – Donovan – Angelique
Friday.
Kidjo – Seasick Steve – Keb Mo – Nick

Award-winning independent Original Sovereign
performing Australian Artist Kerrianne Cox brings a
powerful gathering and soul-filled night of music to
Mullumbimby Civic Hall on Sunday. Kerrianne has
been instrumental in motivating and inspiring women
throughout the region and beyond to come together
in healing circles and cultural exchange gatherings,
supporting women to develop leadership in selfgovernance and sharing the wisdom of the world’s
oldest living culture, in an initiative called Women For
FYAH WALK AT THE RAILS ON FRIDAY
Change. For this night she has activated a rare, allThis Friday night Cafe Dip in Byron
women line-up, featuring some of the shire’s best women
Bay’s Fletcher Street host a special
musicians, including Vasudha Harte, keys, Sheila Finke, percussion,
underground event for those who love their disco funky! This is the
Laura Targett, violin, and Tracey Stephens, bass.
fourth instalment of Café Dips super popular Double Dipped Disco
Kerrianne is deeply passionate about music and the healing that
where everyone is welcome to come and shake their rump on an
takes place through music. Through her music, knowledge and strong
unpretentious dancefloor. DJs Dan Jupiter and Al Royale are disco
connection to land and culture she builds a bridge and encourages all
peddlars pushing the latest disco, disco-house and a few old-school
to walk forward in peace and harmony together. Doors at 5pm with
classics. From 7pm.

Double Dipping

MARCIA

HINES

FRI 16TH DEC
7:30PM
Tickets @
Door or Mullum
Bookshop

$20

Jubilee Avenue, Mullumbimby - 02 6684 2209
Mullumbimby Ex-Services Bowling Club practices Responsible Service. If Gambling
is a problem for you or someone you know, call the G-line toll-free on 1800 633 635.
All Lotteries and Games of Chance NSW Permit number LTPM/11/00602.

SAYING I DO TO GAY MARRIAGE
Why is there such a hullabaloo about gay marriage? Surely straight
people aren’t that bigoted that they can’t see the obvious boon to the
institution of marriage that the gay community will give it? Pardon
the pun, but the whole marriage thing needs a shot in the bum.
Weddings and marriage have become tired. No wonder they never
last. Look what the gay community did for Kylie Minogue – they
made some average and embarrassing Neighbours dwarf a national
icon. If the gay community manage to do for weddings what they
have done for street parades then weddings are about to become
dynamic, exciting, incredible events. Not these tedious formulaic
function-centre wedding sausages that get pumped out at $50,000
a pop. My god, straight people will be desperate to have gay friends
just for the privilege of the invitation! If Priscilla Queen of the Desert
is anything to go by, that wedding dress is going to get a serious

makeover. Perhaps the more boganesque bride will come down
the aisle in a frock made entirely from white thongs, or the party
girl may have a tight-fitting sheath of white-dotted ecstasy tabs, or
perhaps the white frock will be the living screen where the couples’
joyous powerpoint moments can be projected for the world to see.
Straight people are essentially boring. It’s our default position. The
gay community know how to party. They have to. Any group that’s
had to suffer oppression and social ridicule knows that it takes more
than a few streamers and a box of fairy lights to celebrate the triumph
of resilience. I just wish they’d take over Christmas. Weddings are dull.
They’re all the same. It’s like watching the same show with a different
cast. There comes a point where you want to stand up and say ‘for
crying out loud give us a new script!’ The gay community could do
this for us. They could help us re-make marriage. Straight people are
so scared of breaking with tradition that we’ve been fronting up to
declare our intentions of forever in fluffy white meringues or penguin
suits without ever questioning why we are wearing something that’s
not only expensive and impractical, it’s also unattractive. Few people
ever bother to break with the wedding ritual. The bride’s arrival in a
flashy car. The dress. The walk up the aisle. The vows. The I do. The
exchanging of rings. The signing of the register. The photos. The
unfortunate seating plan. The set dinner. The speeches. The Bridal
Waltz. The dancing. The bouquet toss. The Exit. Once we approve
gay marriages I have a feeling that it won’t be long before the whole
program is given a much needed facelift! I mean why walk down the

music starting at 6.30pm. Food available with Vanessa and Hunwi. Tix
$20. $15 conc. $8 youth. Under 10 free. All proceeds to be donated to
Women for Change.

Mr Willing’s Beer Garden
of Eden

Women Who Rock

After a year of packed houses and sweaty
dance floors Jimmy Willing intends to
take out his last show for 2011 with a bang!
Returning to the beer garden is the alluring
Bertie Page as Eve. Rumour has it she will
once again cover herself in butter as Black
Train implore her to keep her skillet good
and greasy!
Accompanying Bertie Page will be a
brand-new bevy
of seductive talent
including Rosie
Peaches, Julz
Divine, Miss Cello
and Miss Panda
Bare. These
burlesque beauties
will strut their stuff
and shake their

This Thursday at the Mullum Bowlo enjoy a fantastic night of music
from two lovely acts from the northern Rivers… First up will be Lil’ Fi
and The Candy Apples… the sweetest harmonies around, melodies
to make you laugh and sing along. Come on down if you haven’t
seen these girls yet. Then Andrea Soler and her five-piece band will
be playing a special show, performing new songs, and a new line-up
before they tour the summer festivals! Show starts at 7.30pm. Tix at the
door or the Mullum bookshop. Bookings on 0419 237 932.

Twice Shybaby at the Billi – Fri & NY!

Get ready to rumble Billinudgel as Shybaby bring their sexy rock
thing to town. In a prelude to what’s in store, the ’Babys warm it up this
Friday from 8pm in the front bar. Then once more at the New Year’s
Eve we’ve all been waiting for – Shybaby combines with Shake Appeal
featuring Jason Matheson for hour after hour of party tunes and fun
for all out the back – it’ll be huuuuuge! All at the greatest little country
town pub in Australia, The Billinudgel Hotel. If you like to party, it’s
the place to be on NYE and this Friday as well.

aisle when you can be delivered on a giant cloud-like chariot that’s
held aloft by six gold men in tiny g-strings? Fundamentalist stalwarts
declare that people who love other people of the same gender
and want to have their commitment recognised by the institution
of marriage can’t do it because the Bible says that marriage is the
union of a man and a woman. The Bible also says that it’s easier for
a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man
to get into heaven, but that hasn’t caused society to declare wealthy
people as depraved soulless ghouls. Leviticus tells us we can’t eat
shellfish; in Deuteronomy the focus is on men without dicks: ‘A man
whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off may never join
the assembly of the Lord’. I never realised that you needed a penis
to pray! And according to another verse in Leviticus, some clothing
choices can see you ushered out of the house of the lord. ‘You shall
not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your
field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two
kinds of material mixed together.’ Great, no polyester, that means
basically no Christians can go to church ever again. It seems that
some people choose to follow the bits from the bible that suit them
and their narrow-minded view of the world. Next time they’re eating
prawns in a pair of polyester trousers they should consider the fact
that were they to trip and fall ball first into the insinkerator they’re just
one scrotum-crushing moment away from marginalisation. For God’s
sake, and for all of ours, would you all just say YES to gay marriage so
we can all move on?

Fyah in my belly
Fyah Walk blaze up another big roots reggae session at
the Rails in Byron Bay on Friday with two big sets starting
at 7pm. The last few shows at the Rails have been huge so
get there early for the full show and avoid the rush!

BERTIE PAGE,
PANDA BARE, ROSIE
PEACHES AND JULZ
DIVINE ARE SOME
OF THE BURLESQUE
BEAUTIES
PERFORMING AT
JIMMY WILLING’S
BEER GARDEN OF
EDEN ON FRIDAY
NIGHT AT THE
NORTHERN RIVERS
HOTEL IN LISMORE

Uke It Up
The regular uke-addicts that come to Stukele’s little
Courthouse gathering, or should we say, uke cult,
are planning a giant uke fest at the Courthouse
with Christmas Carols and even a Santa on a uke. (I
hope that’s playing and not sitting on one!)
BYO uke and strum along with the fabulously
wicked Mae Wilde, Kathryn Jones, uke royalty
Renee and Ben from Blackbirds and of course
Miss Amber and Stukulele. Only $10 at the door or
$16 for families of 2 adults and 2 kids.
Xmas songbook is available from www.ukemullum.
com. See Santa perform dirty blues uke like no-one
else. Wednesday December 21.

Red Eyes

Blu Paper
Tasmania act Dali and the Paper
Band are finishing their December
tour at the Byron Brewery on
Saturday.

DIANA ANAID SINGS GRACE SLICK IN
THE STAGE SHOW OF THE SONGS OF THE
HAIGHT ASHBURY AT THE BYRON BREWERY
BUDDHA BAR ON SUNDAY

The boys will be playing with local
artist Alice Blu who have just released
their debut EP Still Tortoise Nothing.

mojo to the sounds of Black Train, The Real
Gone Hick-Ups and The Ragtag Band.
Not only is this the last show for Dali
Willing’s four-legged friend, Circus The
WNS
and the Paper Band but it will also be the
Singing Dog, will also be making an appearance, so lock up
THE ANGELS AT TWIN TO
last show that Alice Blu play in the Byron
ON SATURDAY
your poodles (unless you want Jack-A-Doodles… which are
Shire before they move to Melbourne.
really quite nice)! This gig will be a a saucy sexy show set in a
The show kicks off at 8pm in the beer
garden of temptation and earthly delight, so mums and dads please
garden so don’t miss out on this opportunity to see both these bands
get a babysitter and leave the kids at home this time! 8pm Friday night
in Byron.
at the Northern Rivers Hotel in North Lismore.

WHAT’S ON

NOV 1 2011 – 30 APR 2012

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$15 / $10 conc

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$23 single admission /
$61.50 for 3 tickets / $78 for 4 tickets
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now open an hour before all events

The Red Eyes firmly established their position as one of Australia’s
leading original dub/reggae acts. They have received critical acclaim
for Red Army (2010), including a nomination for Best Blues & Roots
Album at the 2010 Australian Independent Record Label Awards.
The Red Eyes’ brand-new single Circles is out now on iTunes and the
Melbourne launch at Northcote Social Club on 15 October saw the start
of their national Circles launch tour. The single reflects on the winding
road that is the music industry and the crazy endless touring for live
musicians. Sunday at the Beach Hotel from 4.30pm. Free entry.

Last July crowds at Stokers Siding Hall were wowed by The Songs
of the Haight Ashbury Stage Show. It was the biggest house the hall
had ever seen. Those unable to fit into the hall created a mini-festival
outside as the hymns of a generation were celebrated by the best

Mungo’s Crossword

musicians in the Rainbow Region. Ecstatic crowds roared for more, and
so with great enthusiasm Rainbow Region Gigs presents The Songs
of the Haight Ashbury Stage Show, a celebration of the timeless
music of Canned Heat, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Country Joe and
the Fish, Arlo Guthrie, Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell and more.
S Sorrensen, renowned author and comedian, is the Ringmaster,
interspersing the songs with hilarious anecdotes and stories from the
era. James T, who spent 10 years in Canned Heat, will play the songs
he knows so well. Blues Mama Lil’Fi sings Janis Joplin with a unique
authority that can only come from paying her dues and living the
blues. Jonathan Harvey is only 19 years old but his soulful voice has a
timeless appeal and is a perfect tribute to Hendrix . New to the show
to play Hendrix’s guitar is Connor Cleary. Hailed as one of the region’s
most impressive young guitarists, Connor breathes Hendrix from every
cell. Bill Jacobi’s groovy tramp-roots style will conjure Country Joe,
Arlo Guthrie and Dylan. Worldfolk songbird Andrea Soler will channel
the sweet purity of Joni Mitchell and mystical punk Diva Diana Anaid
will sing Grace Slick as only one who has been down the rabbit hole
can. They are all joined by the All-Star-Full-Tilt-Band who rock like it’s
1967.
Friday at 8pm at the Nimbin Bush Theatre and 2pm at the Byron
Brewery on Sunday.

In Your Stride

Following the release of their debut self-titled CD, The Strides are
performing several shows in Sydney, Wollongong and the north coast,
including an appearance with Afro Moses at the Darling Harbour Jazz
and Blues Festival and a massive double bill at the Basement with
Public Opinion Afrobeat Orchestra. They are joined by Raz Bin Sam at
the Beach Hotel on Friday from 9.30pm. Free.

Carols
As has been happening in Lismore for 30+ years, and in the best
tradition of King’s College, Cambridge, St Andrew’s Choir will join

If one thing holds true about
Christmas, it is the permission to
(over)indulge in food and drink.

Multi-award-winning Australian artists Ash Grunwald and Kram
have joined forces, and there’s nothing they like better than making
psychedelic improvised awesome rock blues together. Together they
are Krash. Kram is mainly known as the drummer/ lead singer of
Australian festival rock icons Spiderbait. Thursday Beach Hotel from
9.30pm. Free entry.

Angels at Twin Towns

With the recognised Rick Brewster’s Angels combined with Dave
Gleeson from the Screaming Jets they bring together a new wave of
enthusiasm, as these stars join forces to create a new exciting chapter
for the Angels band. Showcasing the band’s new single as well as
rocking the stage with all the classics as the new revitalised Angels
leave you screaming for more. Twin Towns on Saturday at 8pm.

Their Province

It’s been a productive year for local band A Little Province, as they
toured the country playing festivals, headlining shows and performing
alongside up-and-coming talent like Eagle and the Worm, Kim
Churchill and The Deckchairs. Early 2011 the boys were selected to play
at Byron Bluesfest after a competition with more than 70 competing
artists. Catch them at the Lennox Point Hotel on Friday night.

worker, a visionary,
a town planner, a
builder and a carer.
These students have
Even the most parsimonious
been wowing Mandy
abandon themselves to the
with their enthusiasm
pleasures of the table and, with
and their newfound
only nine days to go, Art Piece
ability. Mandy has
Gallery intends to put you in a
been teaching standup
festive mood. To thank our artists
comedy through
and clients, we are having a party
Byron Shire ACE for
and we’ll get your juices flowing
well over a decade.
with a cornucopia of paintings
They’re
back.
The
next
crop
of
She teaches them to get in
depicting food, glorious food.
Mandy Nolan’s standup Comedy touch with their struggles, their
Local favourite Hilary Herrmann Virgins. Bigger, bolder and
problems, what irritates them
unveils a completely new body of brasher than ever. For the past
and rise above it. ‘Comedy is the
work with luscious bowls of fruit in six weeks standup comedian,
ultimate tool for revenge. It’s the
festive and jewelled hues.
mother, writer and mentor Mandy place where the oppressed can
Nolan has been teaching the
Rene Bolten is as sumptuous as
take out the oppressor. Comedy
gentle art of standup to 10 brand- heroes are all Davids. Nobody
ever in paintings that carry the
new initiates. We have a real
gravitas of history in their deep
likes Goliath.’ Standup comedy
estate agent, a customer service
meditations on the pleasures of
is the ultimate way to improve
consultant, a chef, a war veteran,
your public speaking, to increase
food. And Robyn Sweaney in
an information technology wizard/ your confidence and overcome
Strange Fruit turns her quietly
visual artist, a mother of boys and your fear of failure! Graduates
ironic eye to the dark dangers
reiki healer, a community sector
all take to the stage after their
lurking behind the slick sheen of
short training to present their
five-minute comedy routine in
a real live comedy setting. With
Mandy Nolan as MC, the comedy
graduates fly in the face of fear
at the Byron Services Club’s
Pandanus Lounge on Monday
at 8pm.
Closed for 2011 – See you in 2012 with a new
Tix are $10/15 and can be
purchased at the door or booked
music program!
on 6684 3443.

Christmas
Comedy Virgins!

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Friday nights @ the YAC

Barista Course
Tuesday December 13th – 4 to7pm $50
Thank you to the awesome young crew from

Permaculture Challenge
for their amazing creativity in the gardens @ the
YAC. Come on down and have a look!

BYS & the YAC is closing for Xmas
Last day to pop in is Friday 16th Dec
Re-opening 9th January
matter
young people

Byron YAC
Mungo’s Crossword ﬁrst published
in The Week.

Krash on Thursday

Culture

Feast of Art

Quick Clues

with St Carthage’s Choir in performances of Nine Lessons and Carols.
Locally the music is selected and the choirs prepared by organist and
musical director of both Lismore churches, Warren Whitney. The
service commences with solo soprano singing Once in Royal David’s
City before being joined by the choir and then the congregation. Hymn
singing, familiar and unfamiliar Christmas music are all presented
between the nine short Bible readings celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Sunday 7.30pm, St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore and Tuesday,
7.30pm, St Martin’s Anglican Church, Mullumbimby.

Byron Film
Festival dates...
The ultra-dynamic and alwayssatisfying ten-day Byron Bay
International Film Festival
(BBFF) is shaping another exciting
program. Each year a whole
world of new ideas, perspectives
and technologies light up the
big screen at the Byron Bay
Community Centre. Highlight
March 2–11 on your calendars.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity
to mix with locals, visitors
from around the world and
luminaries. Rub shoulders, share
creative thinking, and immerse
yourselves in the cutting edge
of independent filmmaking.
A number of workshops and
panels will run throughout the

festival. These give interested
participants access to an intimate
understanding of the tools and
trade of filmmaking. Visiting and
local experts share their insights
and passion for this significant
creative medium. BBFF puts a
strong focus on supporting and
profiling local filmmakers and the
north coast’s extensive population
of film professionals. Featuring
a number of awards, including
the Young Australian Filmmaker,
this festival has become a
powerful platform for exposure of
promising film careers.

Learn to Sing
If you’ve ever wanted to sing,
or sing more freely, or sing with
more people, having more fun,
22 Jan could be become a day
you remember forever. Composer,
vocal arranger and singer Tony
Backhouse is one of the leaders
in the Australasian a cappella
movement. For 21 years he directed
the famous gospel choir Café at the
Gate of Salvation. Tony now lives in
New Zealand and will be in Byron
Bay for a one-day workshop. In
his workshops Tony works with the
passionate and exciting AfricanAmerican repertoire, focusing
on spirituals, gospel songs old
and new, and choral and quartet
styles, and embracing South
African church songs, doo-wop,
R&B and pop. The emphasis is on
harmony, collective improvisation
and freedom of expression. No
music-reading skills are required,
and you may tape the sessions. 22
Jan 10am–3pm Ewingsdale Hall.
Earlybird bookings before 22 Dec:
$75, bookings after 22 Dec: $90.
Contact Jessie Vintila contact@
theluckywonders.com 0417 277 211.

www.echo.net.au

E N T E R T A I N M E N T

Opera on screen

The repertoire for the New
York Metropolitan Opera Met
Live series has been incredibly
diverse, with productions ranging
from the Wagnerian grandeur
of the recent Siegfried, through
the tragedy of Puccini’s Madam
Butterfly, to the sensual passion
of Bizet’s Carmen. The latest
opera extends that diversity
even further with composer
Philip Glass’s inspirational opera
of social change, Satyagraha.
This spectacular production,
a 20th century masterpiece,
is an inspirational retelling of
Gandhi’s formative philosophical
experiences as a young man in
South Africa. Satyagraha screens
at Dendy Byron Bay Cinemas on
Sunday at 1pm and Thursday 22
December at 10.30am. Tickets are
on sale now for $23–$27, children
$15. Phone bookings 6680 8555.

Sharks, Whales +
Sea Shepherd

Whale activists Howie Cooke,
Madi Pip and Dean Jefferys
will come together this week in
Mullumbimby and Byron to share
stories, videos and information
with music from Kevin James
and Howie Cooke to support
and celebrate the wonders of the
ocean and its creatures. Highlights
of the recent inspiring Byron
presentation by the founder of
Sea Shepherd, Paul Watson, will
also be screened. The events will
be held at Byron Community
Centre, Wednesday, at 5.30 pm
and in Mullumbimby out the
back of Santos, Thursday, 7.30.
$10 entry. The Wednesday night
event will be live streamed free on
the internet at 5.30 pm on http://
migaloo2.com/.

s
r
a
t
S
WITH LILITH

will likely receive much praise
and gifts from the glorious and
seductive Miss Mae Wilde.

JUST KIDS COLLECTIVE CABARET AT
CIRCUS ARTS FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Collective Kids’
Circus
In a long-overdue collaboration,
Circus Arts Byron Bay and
Spaghetti Circus join forces to
bring you the ultimate kids’ circus
extravaganza. This collective
circus cabaret features the best of
the Northern Rivers youth circus
performers, showcasing their
remarkable skills both on the
ground and in the air.
Get ready for a fabulous feast of
energetic circus entertainment
including cloudswing, triple
trapeze, Spanish web, swinging
trapeze, contortion, acrobatics,
teeterboard, trampoline, chair
handstand, duo silks, hula hoops
and pitching. Don’t miss this
incredible team effort by the
circus stars of tomorrow! Directed
by Tanya Bilaniwskyj / Sainttina
De Moleay (Circus Arts) and
Simon Adams (Spaghetti Circus).
Friday and Saturday at the
Byron Entertainment Centre at
7pm with a Saturday matinee at
2pm. Tix are Adults $14 / Children
$10. Tix Circus Arts 6685 6566
or Spaghetti Circus 6684 3038.

Film a Waste Land
Filmed over nearly three years,
Waste Land follows renowned
artist Vik Muniz as he journeys
to his native Brazil and the
world’s largest garbage dump,
located on the outskirts of Rio de
Janeiro. There he photographs an
eclectic band of ‘catadores’ – selfdesignated pickers of recyclable
materials. His collaboration
with these inspiring characters
as they recreate images of
themselves with garbage reveals
both the dignity and despair of
the catadores. A heartwarming
film, Waste Land shows the
transformative power of art, the
alchemy of the human spirit,
and the importance of recycling.
Mullum Flicks presents this
Sundance Film Festival Awardwinning film on Saturday at 8pm
with dinner at 6.30pm. Tix are $12
at Mullum Bookshop.

Sketchy Ladies
Get your pencils out for one last
time this year with Dr Sketchy’s
Xmas Striptacular. Guests in
the theme of Victorian elegance
meets HG Wells meets Tim Burton

For a special Christmas treat
we have a spectacular line-up!
Brisbane’s buxom burlesque
beauty, La Viola Vixen, will be
igniting a few Christmas lights in
the pantsall region of the wildly
wooping crowd, and providing
ample curves for bohemians to be
inspired to great feats of artistic
excess. Accompanying Viola will
be the sultry headmistress of Dr
Sketchy Brisbane, The Diamond
Dahlia. Miss DD is a dark and
mischievous minx with killer
curves and porcelain skin, so our
howling crowd of postmodernists
will be well pleased. It’s also
expected that the gypsy accordion
siren Ivy Lucille will also find
her way to the stage and into
your heart. Byron Brewery and
Buddha Bar on Tuesday from
6.30pm. This is an 18-plus event.

NY with Fiona
O’Loughlin!
Finish 2011 with a laugh and book
yourself a seat for the wildest
ride on the north coast when
the Ballina RSL’s Big Gig hosts
their annual 2011 New Year’s Eve
Comedy Festival. House MC
Mandy Nolan welcomes one
of her favourite comedians to
the stage, a woman the media
have declared as ‘arguably one
of Australia’s finest comedians’:
Alice Springs mother of five,
Fiona O’Loughlin. The 2011 NYE
Comedy Festival at the Big Gig
starts at 7.30pm with doors open
from 6.45pm. Gerri Loong will be
playing during the dinner with
comedy to follow. Tix are $59.90
and include a two-course meal.
Bookings – 6686 2544.

After the weekend full moon’s total
eclipse with its tidal dips and swells
in human moods, Mercury ﬁnally
moves out of retrograde and this week
surrenders to serious festive frenzy…

E
A
RIES: In a holding pattern since July, Uranus
moving forward in Aries ignites enough
tonic optimism and psychic adrenalin to fuel
you through the seasonal hit list. Regarding
zigzagging plans and arrangement alterations:
in the same way rolling stones gather no moss,
closed lips gather no feet.
FT
AURUS: They tease you for being cautious,
but who’s laughing this week because they
have backup contingency plan B in place? But
you still need Tauran self-improvement guru
Wayne Dyer’s motivational mantra: When you
change the way you look at things, the things you
look at change…
GG
EMINI: Sure, your planetary ruler Mercury
in Sagittarius wants to have fun, but the
backwash from Gemini full moon total eclipse’s
emotional king tide is still rippling through
personal – and particularly partnership –
interactions. It’s a sobering thought that one
person’s fun can be another’s nightmare. Tread
gently.
HC
ANCER: Right now the joker’s wild and
anything can happen: good, bad or right
off the Richter. But no matter how bizarre
or downright mean-spirited people are, be
guided by that wise, ever-quotable Cancerian,
the Dalai Lama: Choose to be optimistic, it feels
better.
IL
EO: Note to self: losing it and making a wrong
move this week could be financially and
emotionally expensive. Meanwhile, midweek
Leo moon teamed with Mercury’s giant leap
forward sees you in fine furry form party
planning, charming the crowd, working the
room, ruling the roost…
JV
IRGO: So this week’s people are inconsistent
and unreliable. Aren’t you, variable Virgo,
always busy improving things and making
changes for the better? Especially with red hot
chilli pepper Mars activating you to clean up
your act on so many different levels? That’s

www.echo.net.au

7

yours, not someone else’s.
KL
IBRA: With money too tight to mention and
even shopping sports getting tense and edgy,
it’s time to call in your resources, get those art
skills pumping and summon up the wow factor
for your seasonal festivities without it costing a
wad. Because if Librans can’t, who can?
LS
CORPIO: Following the full moon total eclipse
in your house of personal transformation, this
week offers a dazzling chance for one of your
phoenix-like growth spurts if you’re up to the
challenge. Keep it real even if you have to
proceed by feel. And most importantly, drive
carefully.
MS
AGITTARIUS: With Mercury jetting out of
retrograde in Sagittarius with all the clarity and
speed you need to power through the festive
agenda, this week you’re moving fast, thinking
big and talking up a storm. Just don’t make the
mistake of believing people really want your
honest opinion.
NC
APRICORN: Pluto’s button-pressing and
Mercury’s introspection haven’t been much fun
lately, but Venus in Capricorn brings this week
some sweet heat. Take the occasional breather
for inspiration that arrives when your mind’s
not flat chat – they say if you don’t go within,
you might go without.
OA
QUARIUS: With communicator Mercury
moving forward in your house of friends, family
and community, and planetary boss Uranus
exploding out of its half-year hibernation in
action sign Aries watch out, because you won’t
be able to hide. But you will be able to finally
make those overdue changes.
P
PISCES: Piscean Einstein believed our most
important decision is whether our world is
hostile or friendly. Choose friendly and you
could rack up karmic flybys playing fencemender in this week’s family frictions, office
factions and social politics, using words of
praise and appreciation as super glue.

photojournalism to pursue his own
commercial and editorial brand. Now
travelling with 15 years of experience
across the creative industries Heath
Missen Photographer and Gallery is
located at 10, 18 Centennial Circuit,
Byron Bay.
Heath regularly contributes
portraiture, lifestyle, food, wine and
travel images to national magazines,
design agencies, commercial,
individual and a growing stable of
local clients.

In 2009, Heath’s work was shortlisted
for the TPOTY international travel
photographer of the year award. In
the same year Heath was nominated
by Capture Australia for the top ten
photographer awards. Through his
years in photojournalism, Heath twice
received the Melbourne Press Club
Quill Award for Excellence in Feature
and News Photography and was a
Walkley ﬁnalist.
Heath’s personal works have been

GALLERY exhibited in New York, London,

Byron Bay Photographer Heath
Missen laid the foundations of his
career holding staff positions for The
Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning
Herald. Heath departed the world of

Melbourne and Sydney.

Locally, Heath is delighted to
announce a relationship with The
Channon Gallery who now exclusively
represents his most recent body
of personal analogue and digital

works that explore dusk and forms
relationship with landscape.
Photographer Heath Missen also
regularly contributes to Common
Ground, Byron Bay and has
recently launched 248one.com.
au, a photographic blog and weekly
newsletter showcasing personal
observations of the landscape,
community and daily life that is Byron
Bay.
For further details and to view more of
Heath’s work, please visit his personal
websites or visit Heath Missen
Photographer and Gallery in The Arts
and Industry Estate.
www.heathmissen.com.au
www.248one.com.au

After any excess ink has been wiped off, the ink plate is put
through an etching press, in appearance not dissimilar to an
‘One Again’ is an exhibition of colour, vibrancy and high-quality old-fashioned wringer. It squeezes the ink out onto damp paper
works by artists from throughout the region, many local to
and by repeating the process multiples of the same image can
Kyogle. Each year at this time the Roxy Gallery conducts an
be made.
exhibition with gift-giving in mind. The works on display and for Barebones Art Space has a wide range of beautiful etchings by
sale in this exhibition can be purchased and removed from the
well-known Australian artists such as John Olsen, Garry Shead
gallery prior to the closure of the exhibition, allowing people
and David Boyd, a stunning gift for Christmas.
to organise their Christmas gifts in time . ‘Once Again’ will be on Open Tuesdays–Sunday, and public holidays, 10am–4pm.
display until 28 January 2012, allowing plenty of time for people 44 Byron St, Bangalow. Phone 6687 1393.
to stop into the gallery and admire the creative talents residing
in our local area. A variety of works from photography, prints,
drawings, ceramics, and fabric have been arranged to produce a
very spectacular exhibition.
Hammer and Hand is a collective of local jewellery and metal
artists. Their gallery and workshop is brimming with an eclectic
143 Summerland Way, Kyogle. Phone 6632 3518.
range of unique jewellery, special table utensils, small sculptural
pieces and greeting cards. With work from 10 artists there is a
wide range of styles for beautiful Christmas presents, or choose
a favourite artist and get a custom piece made just for you.
Etchings are a form of printmaking initially used for illustration
Support local artists and buy direct at studio prices.
in books etc before photographic reproduction. During the
process ink is rubbed into scratches made onto a metal plate.
4 Ti Tree Place, Byron A & I Est. Open 7 days, 10am-4pm.

There is so much to see and enjoy in December at the Tweed
River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah.
Are you looking for gifts for your family,
Portraits and landscapes in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Robert Hannaford: Open Studioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;;
loved ones, work colleagues, yourselfâ&#x20AC;Ś
cutting edge jewellery in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Contemporary Wearablesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;; dynamic
or even someone you havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even met
portraits in Jenny Sageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Paths to Portraitureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;; beautiful
yet?
Roxy Gallery â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Wabi Sabi Leaf On Twig
drawings in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;New Skinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Shayle Flesser; and delightful paintings
Have you ever been inside Planet
created by John Lennox for Seven Little Australians.
Corroboree?
The latest exhibition to be opened is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bessie Gibson: An Artistic
Do you think we are just another tourist
Lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This exhibition showcases Gibsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exquisite miniatures
shop that only caters for tourists?
alongside accomplished larger portraits in oil, and watercolours
We welcome you to come in and see our
that exemplify her flair for
range of beautiful, unique and affordable gifts,
colour and fluidity of line.
which include: Aboriginal art, didjeridoos,
The Gallery Gift Shop
boomerangs, books, jewellery, hats, shirts, native
stocks many unique
foods, games, cards and prints, music, and so
handcrafted gifts,
much more.
'REG (YDE
including jewellery, silk
We
support
local
artists,
artisans
and
businesses,
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Ballantineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
scarves, ceramics, glass,
keeping
your
money
in
Australia.
felt, woodwork, small
Come on in and up until 24 December we will
artworks and gifts for
give you 25 per cent off any purchases if you
children. A small selection
mention this ad.
of good-quality art
books, including works
At the Byron Bay Community Centre, beside
on Robert Hannaford
the post office. Phone 66807 884.
"YRON 3T "!.'!,/7 s s BAREB BIGPONDNETAU
and Euan Macleod, and
45%3 n 35. 05",)# (/,)$!93 !-
0the beautifully illustrated
Seven Little Australians,
also make excellent gifts.
To finish your visit enjoy
Summer is here and the Northern Rivers Writersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
the glorious views from
Centre is basking in its warmth and keen to
the Gallery CafĂŠ while
share the glow. If you enjoy books and writing,
having a light lunch or
revel in discussions of all things literary, and
coffee. Gallery and cafĂŠ
perhaps even harbour a secret desire to one
open Wednesday to
day write a book yourself, then the NRWC is the
Sunday 10amâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;5pm (closed
place for you. Providing an array of workshops,
Rouge, blanc et bleu (previously known as
on Christmas Day).
seminars, author talks and other events
Debutante in red shawl) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; late 1920s. Oil on
throughout the year (including the Byron Bay
2 Mistral Rd,
canvas.
Writersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Festival) the NRWC is not only the peak
Murwillumbah. Phone
The Stuartholme-Behan Collection
writersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; organisation on the Far North Coast, it is
of Australian Art, the University of
6670 2790, www.tweed.
Queensland â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Tweed River Art Gallery
also the perfect place to meet other like-minded
nsw.gov.au/tweedart
people.
The NRWC is currently offering half-price memberships to new
and lapsed members. Please note that all memberships expire
Art collectors can become fashionistas! That has certainly been
29 February, 2012.
happening for avid collectors of Colin Heaneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s glass art, as they To find out more, or to join, contact the team on 6685 5115 or
now create their collections of kaftans, scarves or swimwear.
visit www.nrwc.org.au.
Venturing more and more into fashion, the Colin Heaney
Collection also includes leggings and stretch dresses for very
funky summer additions. Still available in the showroom are
Free admission
the remaining goblets, small vases and glass sculptures. New
Gallery open Wed-Sun
cushion covers with Colinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s amazing digital designs are also
10am - 5pm (DST)
popular for lovers of Colinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art!
9 December 2011- 8 July 2012
Visit us at 81 Centennial Circuit, Arts & Industry Estate.
Gallery closed Christmas Day
Phone 6685 7798, www.colinheaney.com.

BAREBONES ART SPACE

NORTHERN RIVERS
WRITERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CENTRE

COLIN HEANEY

Bessie Gibson: an artistic life
A Tweed River Art Gallery initiative exhibition

PUBLIC PROGRAMS (DST)
Fri 16 Dec 5pm Preview Talk: Join Dr Nancy Underhill, Foundation head of the
Department of Art History at the University of Queensland for an illustrated talk on
Bessie Gibson: an artistic life exhibition
Fri 16 Dec 6.30pm OfďŹ cial Opening: Bessie Gibson: an artistic life All are welcome to
join us for the opening of this beautiful exhibition. Gibson family members will be present

1. That handy boxer and dishevelled actor Micky
Rourke got a Golden Globe but should have picked
up an Oscar as well for his role as a has-been pro
wrestler who stages a tragic comeback in The
Wrestler (TEN, Saturday, 9pm), definitely one of
the best films of 2008. A test of a work of art is
that it can take a dangerously kitschy area such
as ‘championship’ wrestling and imbue it with
pathos and humour, evoking a real empathy for the
characters who inhabit this seedy but heartfelt halfworld.
2. Julie Gayet and Michael Cohen star in the French
romantic comedy Shall We Kiss? (SBS1, Sunday,
10.10pm). When Gabriel and Emilie meet by chance,
they spend the evening enjoying each other’s
company. Emilie declines Gabriel’s offer of ‘a kiss
without consequences’ and in flashbacks we see her
reasons for doing so, how indulging your desires can
affect someone else’s life.

6.30 Test Kitchen
7.00 Country Calendar
7.30 The Royal
8.30 Escape To The Country
10.30 Homes Under The Hammer
11.45 The World At War 12.50 No Going
Back 1.50 Australian Open Tennis 2002:
Safin v Sampras 5.30 Home Shopping

ATTACK THE BLOCK
Aliens – monsters in general,
really – need to have a ‘look’.
Everybody’s got one that they
trade on, from Kylie to the Dalai
Lama, and the proprieties of
sci-fi are no different. In cinema
there has been, for some time
now, a sameness about the
creatures who lob here from
outer space. The benign visitors
look like shrivelled-up old men
with over-sized heads (ET and
Paul), while the meanies who
only want to destroy us generally
appear to have come out of
the Transformers mould. The

toughs who were doing a spot
of mugging when contact was
made. The group of teens, you
are meant to understand, are not
really bad, despite pulling a knife
on a defenceless nurse late at
night, just victims of society (sigh).
Among them is a token white boy
and, film-school crusading though
it might be, it is encouraging to
say that for a change. Coming
from the stable that gave us
Shaun Of The Dead, I expected a
tongue-in-cheek tone, but the few
attempts at humour are lame, with
an emphasis instead being placed
on the redemption of Moses, the
handsome head hood. The edit
is fast and the blood and gore
well done, but there is too much
action and not enough story, and
visually, far too many tight shots.
Why the camera can’t be pulled
back a bit more often these days
beats me. John Campbell

best thing about this vigorous
but disappointing movie is that
the unidentifiable beings who
crash to Earth Brixton (London),
in a blaze of fireworks (much the
same as they did in the superior
Cloverfield), are refreshingly
different in their design. They are
black blobs, with no eyes and
giant, Piranha-like teeth that glow
in the dark (that’s how you know
that they’re there – that and their
fearsome banshee screaming),
and they are susceptible to a
Samurai sword being run through
their guts. The gang whose
fate it is to flee from and fight
them are a bunch of West Indian

PUSS IN BOOTS
As a general rule, it’s fair to say
that the split screen is no more
than a gimmick. Used as a gentle
prod to round up wavering
attention, it is unusual to come
across it in a cartoon feature – but
yes, it was called for in this latest,
over-worked outing of the Puss
in Boots fairy tale. Dreamworks
Studios, considered by experts
to be running a close second
to Pixar/Disney (I can’t tell the
difference), have produced a
ravishingly beautiful movie that, in
most sequences, fairly glows with
golden light. Opening with an
oddly risqué scene in which Puss
(Antonio Banderas) is dressing
and leaving a cute Persian, whose
name he can’t remember, after
a night of love, the story then
follows a long, circuitous route,
set in Quixotic Spain, that has
our hero in pursuit of a handful
of legendary beans. During
his adventure Puss teams up
with a rather unctuous Humpty
Dumpty (Zac Galifianikis) and, in a
peculiar mish-mash of characters,
encounters Little Boy Blue, Jack
and Jill, a septuagenarian Jack of
Beanstalk fame, the Goose that
lays the golden egg and, among
others, a sexy black cat (Salma
FULLY AIR-CONDITIONED
EVERY WED ALL SEATS
ALL SESSIONS $8 ONLY

Hayek) that, for all I know, may
have prowled in from To Catch
A Thief. The plot, requiring close
scrutiny, is derailed somewhat
by an over-long flashback to
the orphanage where Puss met
Humpty, but the animation
is loaded with the sort of
inventiveness that can’t fail to
stimulate fertile young minds
(which is unarguably an excellent
thing). There is also enough wit
and irony in the dialogue to keep
grown-ups entertained, but the
approach feels helter skelter – as
though the creators were trying
to fit in every new idea that came
into their heads. It’s good fun
and the kids around me seemed
to enjoy it, but for mine it had
neither the emotional gravity
of Rango nor the varying and
believable characterisations of
Cars 2. The best is saved till last
when the cats do a beaut dance
routine at the Glitter Club. John
Campbell

WE NEED TO TALK
ABOUT KEVIN
Not since the ultimately
disappointing Memoirs Of A
Geisha have I looked forward
so much to the adaptation of a
favourite book. And with only
a few niggling reservations
would I say that Lynne Ramsay’s
film is wholly satisfying. The
gripping, suffocating novel by
Lionel Shriver, compiled as a
series of letters written by the
increasingly distraught mother
of a manipulative and cruel son,
is a classic slow burn that leads
to a shattering, only-hinted-at
climax. The movie, however,
commencing with a clatter of
flashbacks and then continuing
through deliberately jarring time
jumps, seemed to me to give
away too much at the outset
of what it is that Kevin ends up
doing (in fairness, the second part
of the two-pronged revelation
is withheld to telling effect).
So I was surprised when my
companion, unfamiliar with the
book, disagreed that the climax
had been flagged. There is also
an indefinable ‘certain something’
missing – that intimacy of

the page that can never be
replicated in the cinema. Not
quite there, either, despite Tilda
Swinton’s fantastic portrayal of
the psychologically imploding
Eva, is a closer understanding
of the novel’s sometimes
unreliable narrator. The opening
is an overhead, long-held shot
of people jammed together,
splattered with tomatoes at
a festival in Italy. Rather than
celebratory, it is a claustrophobic,
unsettling image and it perfectly
sets the tone of the domestic
terror that follows. Apart from
John C Reilly in the very back-seat
role of the father, the casting of

Ezra
Miller and Jasper Newell as
Kevin (teenager and kid) is so spot
on as to make your blood run cold
– you’ll never see anybody eat a
lychee with the dripping malice
that oozes from Newell. The
house too – spacious but spare,
hard-surfaced but full of light – is
a clinically astute setting. In the
nature-versus-nurture debate, the
movie sides more heavily with the
former than does the book, but
suggests in its final scene that we
might find some sympathy in our
hearts for Kevin. I couldn’t. John
Campbell

<echowebsection=Cinema>

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3D TICKETS
AIN * ONLY $13.50 ‡
BARGA
Y$!
other TICKETS
TUE$D

ONLY $9

*Excludes Public Holidays,
Film Festivals & Special Events.
‡Plus $1 for reusable glasses.

Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sea Pizza and Pasta has been a vibrant part
of the Byron dining scene since 1976. Their basic
Open every day for lunch & philosophy is to buy the best produce locally and make
dinner. 12pm-2.30pm & 5pm.
their food from scratch. This family restaurant offers
(no surcharge Sundays).
great service in a friendly environment. The menu not
New location: Cnr Fletcher
only has 22 different pizzas â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it also has great pastas
& Byron Sts. Byron Bay.
and salads as well as gluten free options. Fully licensed.
www.earthnsea.com.au
FREE underground parking available.
6685 6029

The Deck

Had enough of the rat race in the CBD? Just 3km from
the centre of town nestled in the beautiful surrounds of
Byron Bayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s golf course The Deck at Byron is fast becoming
the hot spot for locals and their families with Friday night
entertainment for the kids and great value for money,
a wide range of menu options and fresh and exciting
specials for dinner. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be the last to find out! Bookings
essential.

All the favourites â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Nachos, Enchiladas, Burritos etc
Extensive vegetarian options.
TWO UP TUESDAY - Buy one main meal and receive a
second main meal for FREE from 5.30pm. Inexpensive
and extensive cocktail list.
$20.00 Group Bookings Menu for bookings of 15 or more
Takeways and Childrens Menu available. Conditions Apply.
THE ORIGINAL FLAVOURS OF MEXICO.

Slice Pizzeria is Byronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only authentic stone oven pizza.
Made with top shelf ingredients and ready to be eaten by
the slice or whole. Real handcrafted dough, opened in front
of your eyes with our bare, trained hands. Italian grown
tomatoes and flour. Butcher quality meats. Real, fresh, local
produce. Fresh, pure mozzarella (no blends, no substitutes).
A simple and unique slow rise process, minimising the use
of yeast, therefore giving you a lighter and healthier feeling.
Enjoy! You just ate something good.

Beach Kitchen

Beachside
breakfast, lunch
and dinner right
in the heart of
town overlooking
Main Beach,
Byron Bayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Enjoy sensational seafood on the beachfront in Byron
or at Fishheads in the historic town of Bangalow.
Just like its sister restaurant in Byron, Fishheads
Bangalow is now BYO. Choose to bring your favourite
bottle of wine or order off our extensive wine list.
BYO is a great option for functions or this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Xmas
party. Call or email us at functions@fishheadsbyron.
com.au for a quote.

Now open Friday & Saturday nights.
Book now for New Years Eve!
Open 7 days from 7am
The newly refurbished iconic Pass CafĂŠ is open again,
Breakfast & lunch BYO
offering value for money dine in and takeaway meals.
Fri & Sat bfast/lunch/dinner
Local fresh ingredients used in all meals. Come by road,
Brooke Drive, Byron Bay
foot or sand to this casual dining experience.
6680 8028
Available for hire for private functions.
contact@thepasscafe.com.au
Bookings essential.

Open early till late, One One One serves up southern
European food with hint of spice, blending Italian,
Spanish, French and Turkish influences into our own
unique style.
Our commitment to using local, seasonal produce
is second to none, we have a fully licensed wine and
cocktail bar, and our friendly staff are on hand to ensure
that you eat well and laugh often.
NO BOOKINGS

At Traditional Thai you can discover your new canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t-live-without-it dish
among never-get-it-wrong satay skewers and all-time-favourite pad
Open for dinner
Thai. It is here that the curry pastes are freshly pounded to leave your
Wednesday to Monday
palate dumbfounded. It is here that the ambrosial meals are cooked to
5.30 to 9.30pm. Lunch on order and the scrumptious cocktails and mocktails thrust you in a land
weekends from December of wonderful tales.
5/2 Fletcher St, Byron Bay Find us at the beach end of Fletcher St. You can dine-in or take-away
seconds from the water and sand. At Traditional Thai banquet menus
6685 5151
for special events and private catering are also a popular demand.

Fishheads

Earth â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; Sea
Pizza and Pasta

One One One

WINE BAR TAPAS BAR Restaurant, with all the old
favourites and an extensive wine list, now is the time
to head to Dominicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for something a little different â&#x20AC;&#x201C;
there is something for everyone!

Traditional Thai

Open 7 days 12.00 till late
(very late on weekends)
Beach end of Jonson St
(under Hogs Breath CafĂŠ)
66 809 357

Open Wed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sat
from 5pm
Sunday lunch from 12pm Drop in for an enjoyable meal or try some tapas and a
Fingal St, Brunswick Heads cocktail and have a lazy Sunday afternoon.
6685 1688
Tapas Happy Hour Fri 5.30pm

CafĂŠ by day, Italian restaurant by night. Targa is dishing
up contemporary Italian fare, seven days a week,
Genovese Coffee and a small but interesting wine list
of local and Italian varietals.

Winner of the favourite Japanese
restaurant in Australia in the I Love
Byron Bay Woolies Plaza, Food Competition. In 2011 O-Sushi
Jonson St 02 6685 7103
won the best Asian restaurant in the
Northern Rivers and New England
Coolangatta Showcase
on the Beach 07 5536 5455 in the Savour competition. Eat in or takeaway. Licensed.
Open 7 days 11am till late. O-Sushi is a modern Japanese
Broadbeach The Oracle,
12 Charles Ave 07 5570 2166 restaurant guided by a philosophy that incorporates
traditional values of providing the best possible service
www.osushi.com.au
combined with fresh wholesome food.

Sip your margarita in our casual covered garden and
enjoy the fresh clean flavours of Mexico. Everything
home made. Always tasty Not Spicy Hot. Sample some
of our house salsas, such as smokey chipotle or fiery
habanero. A great selection of Tequilas, imported beers
and wine.
t'VMMNFBMTGSPN
t#BORVFUNFOVTBWBJMBCMF

The Bangalow Dining Rooms at the Bangalow Hotel
produces great food using predominantly local
produce. The beautiful restaurant space on the high
verandah and intimate dining room hosts a modern
menu. Enjoy our bistro menu in the pub all day. With
reasonable prices, generous portions and a kids menu,
our delicious menu will appeal to all.

The only exclusively Vietnamese restaurant in town,
this intimate space spilling out into a courtyard offers
up fabulous dishes packed full of herbs, spices and
varied textures. The traditionally light and healthy style
of cuisine ensures the freshness and natural tastes of
food are preserved as much as possible. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a popular
spot so bookings are recommended.

With a focus on fresh local produce, the Restaurant at
The Byron at Byron showcases fine food with passion.
Dine in style overlooking a spectacular rainforest
background and select from the seasonal menu which
includes an enticing degustation dinner. Happy Hour:
Join us from 4.30-6.00pm every day, for a relaxing drink
on the deck with $10 cocktails, $6 wines and $5 beers.

Italian at the Pacific
Open for Dinner & Cocktails
7 days from 4pm till late
Next to the Beach Hotel
Bay Street
6680 7055
italianatthepacific.com.au

Muoiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Feast has created a strong following since
opening in 2003. Winning numerous awards for its
international cuisine, the Asian section of the menu is
the predominant favourite. Enjoy for lunch or dinner.

Italian at the Pacific provides a bustling atmospheric
restaurant, dishing up contemporary inspired Italian
cuisine. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re introducing an exciting menu of taste
plates, antipasti, fresh pastas and main dishes. With our
new Ocean View Bar, we ensure all our guests have the
opportunity to enjoy some of Byronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest cocktails
and wine.

Byron Bay Pizza Co.

COORABELL

Wilsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s by
The Creek

KINGSCLIFF

The Byron Bay Pizza Company is dedicated to making
the best take â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bake pizzas on the planet from
OPEN 7 DAYS
B'fast & Lunch (8am-2pm) the finest locally farmed and ethically produced
ingredients. Come & check out our little pizza factory
Dinner (from 5.30pm)
THE KIOSK @ The Byron Bay at THE KIOSK @ The Byron Bay Tourist Village where
Tourist Village (Sunrise Bvd) you can grab a pizza (hot or take â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bake) as well as
fantastic coffee and more!
Ph. 66809773
Treat yourself â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s food you can feel good about.
byronbaypizza.com

Sweet corn for my mother would be just another
vehicle for butter. Jane Grigson describes the
experience beautifully: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;Ś one could not take
to sweetcorn in the years of butter rationing.
Butter it must have, plenty of it, to bathe the
yellow grains and dribble down oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chin, as one
chews away.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And yet I do not recall being served
as much sweetcorn on the cob throughout my
upbringing as the creamed corn that comes in
tins, which my mother liked to offer her girls for
breakfast, on toast.
Sweet corn is the one vegetable which absolutely
should be eaten as soon after it has been
picked as possible. (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;Ś botanically green, butâ&#x20AC;Ś
gastronomically ripeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, says Waverley Root). This is
due to its highly efficient process of converting
sugar into starch as it matures, rendering it
essential to pick while still immature, at what
is referred to as its milk stage. Mark Twain
recommended placing a kettle of water in the
middle of a cornfield, building a fire under it and,
as soon as the water has begun to boil, picking
those corn ears within reach and shucking them
directly into the kettle. Jane Grigson herself
suggests that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;in an ideal world, you should put a
pan of water on the stove to heat up, then go out
and cut the cobs.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
So how fresh is the corn you buy in a
supermarket? It scarcely bears contemplation. Far
better to buy the frozen product if you cannot
source it from a farmers market or roadside stall
or, best of all, your own garden so the water is
simmering as you extricate it from the soil.

Discover Wilsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s By The Creek Restaurant tucked away
in the Byron hinterland. Newly open to the public, the
elegant restaurant offers a truly gourmet experience,
accompanied by Peppers renowned personal service.
Savour the incredible flavours of the hinterland for a
romantic dinner or gathering with friends, as Head
Chef Adam Hall inspires you with his seasonal menu
brimming with local produce.

DJ Aqua LIVE
every Sunday night
in the Fins Bar.
Join us for cocktails on our
NEW SUNSET DECK
daily from 5pm.

Recommended in the Sydney Morning Herald Good
Food Guide 2011, this cruisy cafĂŠ is in Lennox Headâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
best location away from the hustle and bustle, with
Breakfast & lunch Wed-Sun beautiful ocean views. Walk straight in from the beach
6687 4333
to enjoy the superb cafĂŠ fare on offer for breakfast and
www.blackboard.net.au
lunch.

Spice It Up
Thai Restaurant
Open 5 days.
Open Wednesday-Sunday
Ä&#x192;QNt%JOFJOPS5BLFBXBZ
6684 2273
Mullumbimby Golf Club

Yum Yum Tree CafĂŠ

The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Yum Yum Treeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was a traditional meeting place
for the first Australians of our area. A place to take
sustenance, and catch up with old and new friends.
Come notice the extra flair, enthusiasm and personal
touch of the Yum Yum Tree CafĂŠ team, a collection of
professional, down to earth people, enjoying their day
serving you the tastiest meals and drinks.

Pizza Paradiso

Artisan pizzas hand crafted on the premises using the
freshest local produce and the best of traditional and
modern styles.

Horizons

Overlooking the sparkling blue waters of the Jack
Evans Boat Harbour at Twin Towns is Horizons
restaurant. Enjoy a friendly atmosphere with casual
indoor or al fresco dining where you can take in our
spectacular views. Bring a friend to Horizons for High
Tea available Monday to Saturday in the afternoon from
2.30pm to 4.30pm for an extra special afternoon delight!

Most are aware of the two wonderful Santos healthy
food stores on Jonson St, Byron Bay & Burringbar St,
Mullumbimby, but did you know that you can also
Mon-Thurs 9 to 5
shop at the Santos Warehouse? Small enough for
Fridays 9 to 4
personal care, large enough for competitive prices, we
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
have been supplying high quality biodynamic, organic
3/7 Brigantine Street,
& natural products to Byron Shire & beyond since 1975.
Byron Arts & Industry Park We continue our commitment to sourcing as locally as
6685 5685
possible. Encouraging community.

You can of course do fancy things like flavouring
your butter with chilli or fresh herbs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; coriander is
wonderful â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or lemon rind, and instead of boiling
the cobs you can barbecue them until they begin
to excitingly char. Keep the husks on if you do
it this way, first folding them back to strip away
the silky threads. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;You are supposed to get messy
when eating corn-on-the-cob, and enjoy itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;: there,
we have Jane Grigsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s permission.
CafĂŠ: First CafĂŠ in the shire to offer quality espresso coffee
& organic milk! Modern Wholesome CafĂŠ food & house
baked pastries. Relax in our tropical courtyard with friendly
professional service. Resto: Late afternoon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Share a drink
with something to taste Evening: Live life deliciously with
our new creative fortnightly changing menu! French Chef
Bruno passionately recreates bistro classics using high
quality produce. Reviewed and recommended by SMH
Good Food Guide â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 3rd consecutive year!
NYE SPECIAL DINNER & MUSIC $79 PP

It is the husk which is used for the wrapping
of Mexican tamales, the little packages of food
enclosed in dough, then husk, before being
steamed. But it is the explosively sweet juicy little
kernel with which, certainly on most tables, we
are familiar. For a long time I was daunted by
sweet corn, not terribly sure how to approach its
preparation in a recipe that called for only the
kernels. And then I found out how ludicrously
straightforward it was: the simple scraping down
with a knife to detach them, the inconsiderable
amount of time bubbling away till tender in
barely salted water. As it turns out it remains a
vegetable whose form I prefer to be at its purest,
the entire cob boiled for seven minutes, drained
then enrobed in salted butter and, if I am not too
impatient, a grinding of black peppercorns, then
gnawed at in a primitive and undignified fashion.

FINS is famous for serving the
best seafood in Australia. We
have now launched
FINS EARTH.
An exciting menu of the best
steaks from Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most
premium producers. Choose
your cut, choose how you would like it served.

Sweet corn, a variety of
maize with high sugar
content, is a member
of the grass family. Originally grown by the
Native Americans, it now comes in more than
200 varieties thanks to its easy hybridisation. Its
fruit is the corn kernel; its entirety is called an
ear before submitting to consumption, at which
point it becomes a cob. Those delicate filaments
which wreathe themselves around the ear are
appropriately named the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;silkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, and the tightly
furled leaves enshrouding everything are called
the husk.

MULLUMBIMBY

Muoiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Feast

Casual relaxed seaside dining overlooking the
picturesque Wategos beach. Using the freshest
produce and seafood from throughout the region.Â
Raeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is an iconic restaurant with a reputation as the
best in the area.

Hurtling towards Lismore I am perplexed by signs,
black paint on small white boards, which shout
out SCORN. Scorn? A protest? An underground
movement? Political comment? Then suddenly
my head clears at the sight of a blotch beside the
S : itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sweet corn, of course, farm gate or roadside
stall.

A sophisticated blend of flavours and textures with an
ever changing menu. For breakfast, lunch or dinner
and tapas all day, matched by an exciting wine list and
arguably the best cocktails in town.
Your taste buds will be tantalised and so will your eyes
as you look over the streets of Byron and enjoy the
eclectic vibe of The Balcony Bar & Restaurant.

SUPPLIERS

BYRON BAY CONTINUED

The Balcony

GOODTASTE

Luscious Foods aim to provide the freshest, first class
quality handmade food for your event. Whether your
function is a cocktail party, wedding, conference, picnic
or intimate, Luscious is here to help create delicious
menus to suit your tastes and budget. All products are
handmade using fresh local produce, organic where
possible, with an extensive range of global cuisine.
A uniquely Byron uniquely Asian Emporium with
everything you need for cooking Asian food â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from
Korea and Japan though China, Vietnam, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Thailand, India and even into the Middle
East. Spices and rices, groceries, fine teas and teapots,
Yum Cha dumplings ready to eat in the store or frozen
to take home, fresh noodles and tofu PLUS gorgeous
exotic gifts, homewares and furniture.

The Byron Shire Echo December 13, 2011 41

Sport

results@echo.net.au sport@echo.net.au

Pro-Am inaugural run a success Crankin’ what’s happening surfside
Kyuss King
The Byron Bay junior added
another trophy to the cabinet
over the weekend at the Wahu
Grom Comp held at Palm
Beach Queensland.
Kyuss surfed his way through
a strong field of competitors in
the 13s division over the twoday event and score a 15.4 out
of 20 in his semi to secure his
place in the final. He finished
third overall in the finals.

Bruns Boardriders

Veteran legend of the fairways Mike Ferguson shows what style is all about on Friday during
the inaugural PGA Legends Pro-Am at Ocean Shores. Photo Jeff ‘Well Below Par’ Dawson

After three previous postponements, the inaugural Ocean
Shores PGA Legends Pro-Am
got underway in great conditions last Friday.
Even after 75mm of rain on
the previous two days, superintendent Shane Heaney and
his staff had the golf course in
superb condition.
Over 120 amateurs battled it

out for over $3,000 in prizes,
with Damon Neale winning
the afternoon competition
shooting 42 points. Shannon
Murnane was the best of the
morning players with 39.
A stellar line-up of over 50
Legends from the PGA Seniors
Tour took to the course with
the amateurs in what turned
out to be a fantastic day.

Jim Lapsley from New Zealand took top honours with
a great score of 67, with Jeff
Woodland, Ricki Mangan and
John Martin tying for second
with 69.
The positive feedback from
both the professionals and
amateurs has ensured this as
an ongoing event and was a resounding success.

The BBC held their 2011 presentation in Brunswick Heads
on Saturday.
Dan Johnston was the man of
the year taking out the seniors,
opens and club champion, and
young Oli Sheridan the kid to

beat, winning both the groms
and juniors.
Congratulations to: Fleas:
first Jett Dickinson, second
Casey Joe Sheridan and third
Kaya Thackery – Most Improved Sam Chandler. Flea
Girls: first Tiare Lee and second Paris Guyler. Groms: first
Oli Sheridan, second Jacob
Chandler and third Jett Dick-

inson – Most improved Jaden
Thackery. Juniors first Oli
Sheridan, second Zane Smith
and third Bawoo Cockatoo.
Seniors first Dan Johnston second Trent Foreman and third
Corey Strickland. Masters first
Steve Foreman, second Phil
Sheridan and third Seppy.
Opens first Dan Johnston and
second Trent Fore.

and Harrison Murphy from
Lennox Head SLSC have both
been selected and will represent the FNC Branch together
with Branch winners from all
over NSW to contest the Male
and Female NSW Junior Surf
Lifesaver of the year for 2012.
The award is a way for clubs
and branches to recognise their
under 14-members’ achievements in surf life saving and
the contributions they have
made to surf life saving at all
levels and within the community. Both Alex and Harrison
will now go to the state trial
where they will be interviewed
about their help and promotion of surf life saving whilst
meeting and bonding with the
other representatives.
ior Female Surf lifesaver of the The winners will be announced
year. Riley Buckley, pictured at the 2012 State Age Champiright with Alex, was Byron onships.
Bay’s Male Contestant. Alex Photo Monica Falconer
Morning - Peter Moyle 39pts , 2nd Shannon
Murnane 39pts , Mark Butler 39pts
Afternoon - 1st Damon Neale 42pts , 2nd
C.Pruul 40pts , 3rd Gavin O’Donnell 40pts
Saturday 10 Dec - Captains V President 4BBBB stableford
President side won 16-12
1st K.Cameron & A,Cahill 47pts , 2nd
B.O’Donnell & M.McPherson 46pts , 3rd
M.Chapman & D.Gibbs 45pts
TABLE TENNIS
Mullumbimby
Mark Smith was in great form to take out the
singles final 4-1 from Chris Strybos. After going down 12-10 in the first set, Mark hit some
spectacular shots and counter-attacked
seemingly impossible to return smashes, to
win convincingly.
All welcome, play is at the Mullumbimby
Tennis Clubhouse, Byron Street Mullumbimby, thursday evening 6.30pm start. Also,
build on your skills with our new table tennis robot. Enquiries phone Mark 04 09 47 35
17 or Chris 6684 1468.